The Plan
by vampandwolflover
Summary: What if District 13 had been different? With different rulers and different beliefs. What if the road to rescuing the citizens of Panem had been built with different intentions? Will it save Peeta and Prim or sacrifice their lives and many more?
1. Peeta: Chapter 1 Captivity

**Chapter 1**

**Captivity**

**Peeta Point of View**

A foul odor reeks from the guards. They guard only me from what I know, but what I know is not much. Not that they are necessary; video cameras, heat sensors, and chains prevent escape. I look at the cameras and can only imagine how the Capitol uses the video footage of me to manipulate the people. But only my cell exists right now and I know every inch of it. I would not be able to describe the building I am held in, just these four walls and what is inside them. Thick steel composes three of the four walls. My arms shiver against the ice cold steel. Cement creates the ceiling and floor. The lack of windows leaves me clueless to the time of day. I assume the time to be early morning because these are the same guards from last night and I have not been given the table scraps my captors call a meal. Not even a dog would eat that garbage. My frail body once fit and strong is chained to the wall opposite the door. Even if I could escape from these chains, I would not have been able to get through the three inch thick, steel trap door. The blank space beyond the threshold reveals a hallway made of more steel that I only see when someone enters or leaves the cell.

Unlike normal jail cells, this prison room has no bed, no sink, no toilet, no chairs. Any of that furniture would take space away from the area that could be used for the torture devices. Every day, between lunch and dinner, a man dressed in camouflage digs and decked out in a buzz cut struts into the cell carrying different instruments of torture. I have never seen him before in the Capitol or anywhere else, and I would never forget a face like that. He has a lightning bolt shaped scar on his left cheek giving him a haunting grin that sends shivers up my spine alone. The Capitol hides even their more brutish people underground where the heartwarming citizens of the Capitol cannot see them.

Even though the years as of late feel like we have not evolved, I remember learning about revolutions from friends who had relatives during those ages of freedom, and yet these devices were pulled right out of the dark ages. A stretcher, whip, needles, hot iron tools for branding, each left welts and scars. The blood drips down my face and back to then cool from the air conditioning. The only new invention blockhead uses is an electroshock machine that sends waves of sharpening pain through the core of my body. I wonder what he will use today. That is all I have to look forward to, torture, in the confinement of this bleak desolate room. I am a prisoner.

Fourteen hours later, I have more bruises blooming and more blood oozing from fresh wounds. Army guy with a stick up his butt asked about the rebellion group, again. You would think he would grow tiered of asking the same questions over and over again. But once he was gone, I was left in quiet all over again. At least the room is dark enough for me to close my eyes and dream of Katniss, no matter how little she dreams of me. The memory of her hidden grin as she uncovered me, covered in wounds, from the mud during the first Hunger Games, gets me through the day. The memory of her determination to insure that I regained my health pulls me through each week. But the pain causes me to lose track of how long I have been in captivity. They shock me, starve my stomach, whip my back, stretch my limbs. I try not to scream out in agony because the citizens of Panem do not need to cower in fear of the pain I suffer. They ask where the fugitives are hidden. They want to know where Katniss went. They torture me to tell them about Haymitch and his connections. But the truth is… I know nothing. If I had been told information I would not have breathed a word, just to keep Katniss safe. Haymitch said that the Capitol would do less damage to everyone the less I knew. I could not possibly imagine anything worse than this. Except Katniss being hurt.

Even though Katniss is not pregnant with my baby, I wish she was. Not that I want her to have to raise a child on her own if anything happens to me, just that she would be able to carry a part of me with her. I have nothing to leave on this planet if I do die. I inspired no one and have nothing to show for what I have done in this life time. Katniss was the one out of the two of us who inspired Districts to rebel and to give the people hope that life could exist without the Capitol. At least I have my memories of her. The capitol cannot take those away or taint them with this pain. Although I think they try to with the torment.

I wonder how I will escape. I doubt I could do it on my own. Drugs tainted my ability to stay awake when they brought me in. Guards are not only stationed on the inside, but also the outside of my cell and I am sure they are patrolling the hallways. Escape is nearly impossible on my own. I hope someone has a plan in all of this. Because I sure as hell don't.


	2. Katniss: Chapter 2 Knowledge

**Chapter 2**

**Knowledge**

**Katniss Point of View**

It's too clean… Just like the Capitol. But the difference between the Capitol and where am now is that Peeta is there and I am here. In a hospital, the people tell me. After my little outburst they chained me to the bed, leaving me with little to do except think and take in my surroundings. Cords attached to me are hooked up to a computer that monitors my health, so the nurse tells me. The walls are painted as a meadow, with blue skies, few clouds, a variety of flowers, and the wide space stretching on for eternity. The green tiled floors add to the illusion that I'm sitting in a meadow. No windows make me wonder whether I am beneath ground, or above it and the architect decided windows were a waste. I question what stretches beyond these walls. Am I really in District 13? The District that rebelled and was supposed to be nonexistent for the past seventy-five years.

Gale stops by occasionally to drop off a book. He appears less forward than usual, like he's trying to hide something from me, something that is a big part of his life personally. He says that Prim and my mother are adjusting to life very well here. Problem is that he isn't allowed to tell me where I am, yet. That someone else will come to tell me, when the time is right. But while I am shackled to a bed, Peeta is suffering. Which is why I sit in this hospital room planning a rescue mission to break Peeta out of the Capitol. But my efforts were apparently not necessary.

Gale walked into my hospital room with two girls. One girl had her hand intertwined with his. Her sleek, black hair pulled back into a ponytail showing off her darker skin tone and a complexion Cinna would marvel at. Her eyes shined brightly as she looked adoringly into Gale's eyes. This is what-or should I say who- Gale has been hiding from me. But the other girl seemed to be in charge of the whole situation. Her stance looked as though it could withstand a bull ramming against her frame. She had a fair complexion, long brunette hair, bluish-greenish eyes. This average girl had an extra complexity I couldn't quite pick up on. Gale and the girl wrapped around his finger stood behind the brunette, who took up residency on the steal, hospital stool. She smiled at me, and this was oddly comforting considering her stance seemed to be so authoritative.

"It's such an honor to meet you, Katniss Everdeen. _The girl on fire,_" She wiggled her eyebrows at what people called me. "My name is Starry Sparrow. Call me, Star, everyone does. This is my accomplice and partner in crime, Night Hawk." She gestured to her friend. "You've made quite a splash this past year. You've ruffled the Capitol's feathers more in the past year than we've been able to do in the past decade." Speaking with praise I didn't deserve. "Well, that's not true. We tend to ruffle their feathers quite a bit, but you most certainly caught their attention. Not just the Capitol, but the other districts as well. Even Districts 1 and 2 are starting to question President Snow's authority. But Snow keeps fighting back with threats and the videos of Peeta. Apparently the reruns of our 'blown-up district' wasn't scaring the people enough…"

I cut her off. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me explain. Now get comfortable, this is a long story." I've been sitting in a hospital bed for days, how could I be uncomfortable at this point? "My grandfather was quite the inventor. Seventy-five years ago, he designed the weapons that were manufactured in District 13. At the time he was twenty, his wife pregnant with their first child. Their only child. His designs were revolutionary, creating weapons that thrilled and frightened the Capitol. My grandfather also feared the Capitol would take these weapons and use them against the unsuspecting citizens. So he secretly built a safe house in his spare time. This house could hold every resident in District 13 comfortably, while defending against the most powerful bombs imaginable. Each resident in the District became fed up with the harsh living conditions and suffering they endured. The conditions you lived through in the Seam were nothing compared to the lives of the people in District 13. The radiation from the weapons caused children to die from too much exposure. The food supply too little to sustain half of our area. The children were fed first, adults last, seniors weren't ever fed because they realized how little use they were and decided that it were better for the younger generations to sustain themselves. People rarely lived to be over age thirty, so if you had grown to be sixty years of age, you were practically an artifact.

"When the rebellion happened, everyone lived. The plan all along was for the Capitol to use the bombs my grandfather had originally invented, only for everyone to be safely hidden underground. They lived underground for a week, happy to be rid of the Capitol. When they emerged from the safe house, construction of grand buildings began. The Capitol lived in fear of what weapons my grandfather had invited but never shared. They feared him to the point they have never set foot on District 13. The video they show all the time is the same footage from the original bombing, just edited. It took twenty years, but a town had been built. A self-sustaining town. Using the plants and animals from beyond the fence that once caged us, but was demolished by the bombs, the town grew. Some people constructed buildings, others created furniture, and some created technology, but many started farming and hunting, creating a life source that revived the people like never before.

"Years passed and the town grew and grew. Fugitives from other districts that made it here were welcomed with open arms. They have contributed their knowledge to improve our town. As the years went on, the problems in the other Districts became more and more known to us. Plans were made to over throw the Capitol, but there was always a flaw, we didn't have the inside knowledge, until now.

"Haymitch contacted me the day Peeta punched him and the day you threatened him with a knife. That was rather impressive by the way. We watched the Hunger Games this year for the first time with hope that we could have someone on the inside. We have always had people on the inside but not one of high power. Haymitch knew how to contact us without the knowledge of the Capitol. Only a handful of people do know. But we've been watching the games for years, tweaking the games here and there just enough so that certain people could survive, but not to the point where the game makers would notice anything happening that shouldn't. When you entered the games, we didn't need to help you. Everything that you and Peeta suffered through was your own doing. Especially, Rue. What a warrior." She said with admiration seeping through her voice. The tears nearly fell at the thought of Rue. But I continued to listen to Star's words. "During the games, we contacted her family and Thresh's family. They're families are part of our people on the inside. Vivian, the Avox Girl who you met in the Capitol, and Darius are also feeding us information from the inside. The specifics will all be explained later. But all in all, we've been watching and we have the situation under control."

"But what does this mean for Peeta? Why didn't you save him?" I yelled in outrage.

"He may not know about us, and his lack of knowledge will keep him alive in the Capitol, but he's not going to suffer for long." I cringed at the thought of Peeta in pain. But Star continued speaking with strength and conviction. Her next words shocked me beyond belief. "Because we're going to rescue him and overthrow the Capitol."


	3. Katniss: Chapter 3 A Bit Overwhelmed

**A/N: A previous version of this chapter said: "Those houses are on eight more blocks surrounding Hickory Lane, Springs Street, and Mockingjay Drive." And now I realize how misconstrued those calculations were. It now reads: "Those houses are on seventy more blocks surrounding Hickory Lane, Springs Street, and Mockingjay Drive." Sorry for the mistake. **

**I know it has been an eternity since I have posted a chapter for this, but do not think I have forgotten about it. I just got a little sidetracked and was trying to figure this story out. But I have it under control and will be posting more regularly. Especially since I am done with applying to college and have been accepted to New York University! If I have any readers from the area, shoot me a message telling me places to eat and things to do :) Have fun reading this lengthy chapter and more will be posted soon.**

**Chapter 3**

**A Bit Overwhelmed**

**Katniss Point of View**

I sat in astonishment at Star's words. I couldn't speak for the first time in a long time. Star had something in her pocket that started to beep. She pulled it out of her jeans, looked at a message on the screen of the device, and frowned ever so slightly. Gale and Night looked to her for guidance and information.

"I have to go check on the progress Beetee is making, but we're going to give you some clothes so that Night Hawk and Gale can give you the tour. First, allow me to finish explaining a few things." I nodded for her to continue. "The day we rescued you from the Quarter Quell, a number of tragic events happened. District 12 was bombed. Gale managed to evacuate about a tenth of the population, just under 900 people. Sadly, many people we lost, including the Mayor Undersee and his family. I really liked them. Anyways, this is the largest group of refuges we have had; luckily, we were anticipating something like this to happen. Well, not something as tragic as the bombing, but an extreme growth in population, so I had our construction workers stop work on Headquarters, and build enough homes to house as many refugees as possible. We are still building more while people are bunking together now. But with this influx of people, our population is now up to 15,000 people.

"District 12 was not the only place to bring us refugees. But we had to go in and rescue a few others. Plutarch Havensbee was the Head Gamemaker for the Quarter Quell and Fulvia Cardew was his assistant. They were working for us and we planted them long ago, hopping that Seneca Crane would slip-up. Granted, we thought he would simply be fired, not executed. President Snow has been rather vicious lately, if you ask me. Not that anyone did.

"Getting back to the matter at hand, we managed to rescue, Plutarch, Fulvia, Effie, Haymitch, you, Finnick, Beetee, Venia, Flavius, Octavia, and Portia. I am not sure if you remember, but Portia was Peeta's stylist. President Snow was planning on using Portia to pry information out of Peeta. Additionally, we managed to save Rue's and Thresh's families. I know it may seem overwhelming, but all of these people would love to see you, with the exception of Haymitch. But take all of the time you need. You certainly have no obligation to continue fighting a war that you don't want to be a part of. So before I set you to work, I need to know if you are as serious as we are about taking down President Snow and the corruption in the Capitol. Or do you want to only be a part of rescuing Peeta? Or nothing at all. What's it going to be Katniss, the girl on fire?"

"Count me in for all of it." I heard the words. I spoke the words. I believed the words. Hearing my determination, Star stood up and headed towards a set of drawers near the door. She pulled out a pair of jeans and a green, plain, short sleeved shirt, and then moved to another drawer to pull out a pair of sturdy, leather boots, just like the ones she was wearing. Star set them on the edge of the bed, smiled and nodded to me, turned to Gale and Night Hawk, said goodbye and left the room.

"We'll leave so you can dress, and we'll explain more in a minute. Let me know if those clothes aren't your size or style, then we can have some new clothes made for you. It won't be the same as Cinna's, but our local seamstress is the best in the District. We'll she's the only seamstress in the District, but she's still the best." Night Hawk offered a warming smile and left the room. Gale smiled too, but followed Night Hawk like a love struck puppy. I slipped out of bed and pulled off the hospital gown. A nurse had taken out the needles earlier during the day, leaving small holes in my arms and bandages covering them. It didn't hurt much though, compared to what I'd been through before.

I dressed quickly, braided my hair. After I was picked up from the games and put in the hospital, a woman was sent in to fix my hair. She cut very few parts of my hair, just enough to make the style even again. I hoped that Peeta's hair would still be the same when we got to him. I prayed that he wasn't being hurt too badly because of me. I wished that he could be back in my arms. I braided my hair the best I could but my fingers kept slipping. I finished and looked down at my trembling hands. _Why is my body freaking out?_

I took a deep breath and my hands stopped trembling. I tied the boots and rushed out of the room into the hallway. I needed some fresh air as soon as possible. A tour of District 13 would be good for my state of body and mind. There were doctors and nurses walking up and down the halls, but it took me a few minutes to find them until my eyes landed on the love birds. Gale and Night Hawk were practically connected at the hip with their arms intertwined. He looked happy, for the first time in years. I mean, he was always at home when we were hunting in the forest, but this was something else. Something I don't think I'd ever seen on Gale's face before, and from the looks of it, the look wasn't going to leave any time soon… If ever.

They looked towards me, offered more smiles and started walking down the hall. I followed, taking in my surroundings. A plain hospital for the most part, except no windows. Most likely because we were underground, but that was just a guess. I couldn't think of any other reason for the lack of windows. Just to confirm my suspicions, I asked.

"Are we underground, Night Hawk?" I came up to her side, strolling along.

"Yes, we are. The hospital was one of the first buildings that Star's grandfather built underground. When the district was attacked, the first building to be extensively expanded on was the hospital. It seemed to be the most important. Oh, and you don't have to call me Night Hawk, that's my full name. You can just call me Night." She smiled more towards me but never slowed her walk. "You could say that my parents were hippies."

We stepped into an elevator and started heading upwards. I thought back to some things Star had said. "Star had said she was going to check Beetee's progress. Progress on what, exactly?"

"We could only build so high above ground without worrying about the Capitol attacking us. We know that they were probably too afraid to attack, because of the weapons that Star's Grandfather had built, but we still wanted to be cautious. And then we also feared that if we looked too powerful they'd get too scared and retaliate, attack us anyway, and us without enough security to protect against it. So we didn't build anything higher than two stories. We wanted a shield to protect against the Capitol's weapons. Beetee is working on making a shield similar to the Capitol's—you know the one they use on all of the buildings and surrounding the Hunger Games playing field—except the shield we are developing will only work against Capitol weapons and soldiers." Night said proudly, as if the idea were all her own.

"Night came up with the idea herself. She had one nearly built but she needed Betee for the final touches, because only Beetee is familiar with the Capitol's trackers." Gale added, admiring Night's abilities.

"So it's exactly like the Capitol's shield with the electric shocks, but it only works on a Capitol jet or someone with a Capitol tracker?" I asked for clarification.

"Yes, and I know what you're thinking, what if the Capitol sends an army without trackers? It's impossible. By law, any person part of the Capitol's army is required to be embedded with a tracker, so that way the Capitol doesn't lose any one to our side." Night ended.

"What about the possibility that they implant trackers into innocent citizens?" President Snow probably wanted to put one in me.

"It's possible but the problem is that the trackers also carry vital information about the Capitol's defensive buildings for the use of the military. So they would not risk implanting top secret information into someone that would switch sides." Gale explained, and I quickly learned that in the past few months he had been educating on himself military tactics through Night and Star.

As our elevator stopped at level one, the doors opened to the lobby of the hospital. A pair of secretaries were directing visitors to the appropriate floor, answering phone calls, and typing away on computers. We walked across the lobby to average sized glass doors. Gale opened one of them and let Night and I step through to the outside.

My eyes burned a bit from the shock of bright light. It was the first time in weeks I had been outside, in the sun. Eyes closed, I just stood there for a minute, letting my skin soak up the sun's rays. I took a deep breath, breathing fresh air, feeling as though it were the first time I'd ever had the chance to breathe. I opened my eyes, looking around at my surroundings. The streets were paved with cement. Sidewalks were six feet wide on each side of the street while a twenty foot street ran in between. The street had people riding bicycles, sitting atop horses, relaxing in carriages, or directing their horses from a cart pulling goods. The street was filled with color. Different colors of buildings, clothes, and people. Everything was brightly, happily colored with life. The faces of people were warm with smiles. Not fake smiles, real, joyful smiles I had rarely seen before. And when I say the people were different colors, I don't mean to say that they were like people in the Capitol with tattoos or dyed hair or make-up or implants, they just had different skin tones. In the Districts people had different pigmentations of skin but everyone had seemed to have a pale tinting to their skin as a result of hard labor and little food. District 13 was a completely different world from what I had seen before, but I hoped this was the way all of the Districts would become eventually.

I began to walk with Night and Gale. They pointed out different shops and buildings. Most of the buildings were owned by families, the first floor being used as the shop, the second floor as the home for the family. Night said that the district would not be so self-reliant if it weren't for the runaways from other districts. The people from other districts had a completely different skill set that helped with being able to make various supplies. Night pointed out the different stores as we walked up and down the street. Starting with the clothing stores, there was one for women, another for men, a third for children and infants, and a last one for shoes. The clothing stores received their fabrics from a few different families who dyed the fabric, who received the unstained cloth from a separate set of families that wove it, who received the fabric from another group that wove it, who received the thread from a different handful of families that spun it, who received the wool from families that owned herds of sheep. Similarly, the Shoe Store received their leather from families who tanned the leather who received the hide from the butcher, while the Shoe Store also received their thread from the families who also supplied the clothing stores. Explaining the process seemed to be simpler than the acts themselves. Continuing the tour, we passed by a shop twice as large as the individual clothing stores, except this was titled 'Tailor and Alterations', which Night explained was where the Seamstress fitted the clothes to better fit people's body types, seeing as how the clothing stores made a handful of sizes that needed more figure. Moving on, we passed a Nail Spa—created by the people from the Capitol whose best skill was pampering others. Contrastingly, the Barber Shop, which stood next to the Nail Spa, had been a necessity for cleanliness as well as vanity. Across the street from these stores was the Apothecary which backed up into the Tea Shop. The Apothecary as well as the Tea Shop found their supplies from the herbs in the surrounding forest in addition to growing a majority of the planets on their roofs. Further down the street sat the Book Store, run by a family who had built an old fashioned printing press and created copies of books their family had saved from before Panem was even founded. The family also printed the local newspaper, which reported happenings in the Capitol and other Districts, deaths from every District, and weddings and births of District 13 citizen. The newspaper had become the best connection between people in District 13 and the outside world, even if it was a one way street.

A Hardware Store sat at the corner of Springs Road—the street we had been walking on for what seemed like eternity—and that store seemed to supply everyone with everything needed to not only fix aspects of their house but to also create one from the ground up if they decided so. On the same side as the Book Store but across from the Hardware Store was the Weapon Supplier. The Weapon Supplier made their bows, arrows, spears, axes and other hunting materials from the raw resources obtained from the surrounding forest. Night and Gale were both very clear on the fact that this supplier was not handing around bombs and guns to hunt down military personnel from the Capitol. These weapons were for hunting animals, not humans no matter how much President Snow seemed like an animal. _Do they think I am going to go hunt the weasel down? I'm irritated, not stupid. _

We turned on to a new street that seemed to be the main link between streets. Before I could ask a question, Night Hawk gave me something else to think about. "This is the building where you will meet with Star after the tour. It's formally titled Headquarters, but everyone calls it HQ. And this is Mockingjay Drive. In honor of the bird which has seem to become the symbol of rebellion and hope among the Districts. It was pure coincidence. We'll give you a quick tour down Hickory Lane and then head you back here."

My head was spinning with thoughts of Peeta, but District 13 got in the way. As we continued onto Hickory Lane, which was parallel to Springs Street, I tried to keep track of everything Night and Gale were telling me. Only half of the information was sticking though and I knew that would be painful later, but could not seem to bring myself to remember all that they told me.

"By the way, you don't have to remember all of this. Anytime you need information or have a question of any kind, don't hesitate in calling me or Star. But Haymitch asked you to stop asking him for help." Night said, as if she could sense how overwhelmed I felt.

"Haymitch is here? Where?"

"His place is on the next street over, but he is currently at HQ. I am sure you will run into him there later. Please remember not to throw anymore knives or punches his way, he just left the Hospital last week." Gale responded this time.

"Why was he in the Hospital?" _Tell me I knocked him out and just don't remember._

Night responded with a laugh, recalling a memory and retold it to me. "He and Star were in combat practice and she threw one kick too hard. He was out cold and she felt so guilty. In the end though, I think he was impressed she got the drop on him and she was proud of herself for knocking him out, but they would never admit it. Anyways, let's get back to the tour."

On the south side of this street, backing up to the Hardware Store, stood a school and daycare. "There are very few children under the age of sixteen not in that school, at least for a few hours a day. It began as a way to keep children off of the streets while their parents were working but quickly became a way to ensure that the youth understands the past and prepares for the future. We try not to lay on the heavy stuff; it is really just to let them know what goes on beyond District 13. Then the daycare is for the infants who need to be watched over and played with while their mothers are working. We don't force anyone to work who doesn't want to, especially expecting mothers or ones who are taking care of little ones, but after a while, they just need to get out of the house and work for a few hours, so we added a daycare as an extension to the school." Night explained.

The Tea Shop followed, which Night already spoke about. We passed the second entrance to the Hospital and made it to the last main store on that side of the street, the Furniture Store. Across from that sat what Gale introduced to me as my new home.

On the first floor of the house there were display windows through which I could see benches where people were sitting. The second floor had windows with curtains. The entire house was painted blue and surrounded by flowers bordering the front. There was even a patch of grass and a walk way up to the front door. Each of the houses going all the way down the street was extremely similar, but very different, because only this was where I would be staying. It was not home yet, far from it, but it could be someday. It sure has a vibe that I could not quite explain; it just spoke to me. I saw my mother and Prim through the window and saw them busily working with people, handing them different herbs or creams, catering to each customer in due time. I wanted to rush in and hug them, just to know that they were safe.

"We know that you want to speak to them, but this is their busy time of day, and Star is expecting you soon." Gale said, pulling me away from the front of the house. "I promise you'll see them in a few hours."

Moving on, we passed Greasy Sae's Soup Spot, where she sold her famous brew. The Bakery followed Greasy's, supplying the District with not only sourdough bread, but also cookies, cakes, and muffins. I nearly broke down at the thought of baked goods, but pushed the tears back and kept shoving one foot in front of the other. I started fidgeting with my hands and decided to shove them into my pockets. The Bakery had already been inhabited by another family, but Peeta's dad—not his mom—had survived the bombing, so he worked for them and stayed in a house down Hickory Street. _How could I pass by his dad and the bakery every day?_ We moved on.

The Butcher Shop was supplied with poultry and beef by the hunters as well as the people who had started breeding livestock. A Creamery followed, supplying the district with milk, cheese, yogurt, and butter. Apparently they did most of the processing just outside the bulk of the town where the cows grazed. One of the last stops was the Food Market, which was the one stop shop for fruits and vegetables that were harvested in the fields. My mind kept wandering back to the bakery, because I could still smell the cooked butter and sugar as the scent drifted across my nose. So I started fidgeting with the hem of my shirt to distract myself from the pain. Noticing my fidgeting, Night Hawk posed a question.

"Are your clothes alright? Our seamstress, Sarah, can make you something else in no time at all." Night offered.

"These are fine." I looked down at the clothes I had. _But would I wear_ only_ this while I was here?_

Night laughed at my expression and confusion. "Of course these won't be your only clothes. I almost forgot to tell you. Your mom and sister have set up all of your possessions in your room above the Healer's Store. At least all of the possessions that they could save before the bombs were dropped." Her voice ended on a somber note, but she forged on down the street, so I followed.

We continued to walk amongst the shops, but I started to wonder where all of the natural resources were found. "Where do you get the resources for all of the stores? And who does the work to find it?"

"There are houses on the outer streets of District 13 that are completely house and contain no attached store. Those houses are on seventy more blocks surrounding Hickory Lane, Springs Street, and Mockingjay Drive. There are about thirty-five houses on each street—although we are trying to bring that up to forty—to provide enough housing for all 15,000 people living here, as Star said earlier. The majority of the people in these homes were from District 13 who were taught by refugees from other districts how to farm, fish, mine, etcetera. The people from this district were tiered of dying from radiation and wanted to learn how to be more useful than creating weapons that hurt people. Just outside the houses to the West are farms. Most people ride their horses or bikes to work. But there is a bus for people who do not have that luxury. The bus stop is the next street to the North, parallel to this one, called Golden Arrow Street.

"Anyways, next to the farms is a wide open area where herds of animals live. A group of fifty people hunt in that area, which is about the size of two districts and then some. To the far East is the ocean where some of our people fish. But the Ocean is a far enough distance away that we have a smaller town close to the shore filled with about 100 more people. They fish and then we truck the resources into town. And the truck heading back takes them resources that we make here. With any luck, after this is all over, I can build us a train heading from the coast to town, for a more direct link.

"To the immediate East and slightly to the North is where the mines and quarries are located. And I could keep describing to you where we obtain all over our resources, but this list goes on and on. We try to be completely self-dependent, without hurting nature of course, because that is how Panem happened in the first place."

"How do you not hurt nature if you're hunting, fishing, and cultivating?" I asked with curiosity.

"For every animal we kill, we make sure another is born, if not more. We take only what we need and then we also have trained people that care for any animal that is unnecessarily hurt by us. We are predators, but no more than a lion or a bear." Night responded, ending the tour of Hickory Street with an introduction to the Appliance Store.

"And this is my humble abode. My family sells and fixes appliances for the town to use. The next house over is Star's. Her family lives on Golden Arrow Street, but she likes being close to work. The first floor of her house is the only house close to Headquarters without having a shop or restaurant. She claims it's because she can't sell any of her work. At first that house was just empty and she lived with her parents. Well, actually she lived in her office and left her clothes and possessions at her parent's house. The whole town fixed up that house and asked that she move in and actually get a decent night's sleep. We all thought that she would work better if she was sleeping somewhere besides her desk. Since then, she had been producing even more results, as if that was even possible…" Her mind trailed of for but a moment before returning to the thought she had been about to speak. "Star will want to speak with you soon and I am sure she would love to explain this all to you. But before I take you to Headquarters, do you have any burning questions about District 13?"

I could think of only one after what Night had just said. "What is Star? I mean to District 13? Is she the Mayor or something?"

Night paused for a moment, trying to formulate her answer. Gale just stood there, holding Night's hand, already knowing the answer but unsure of how he would word his reply. And then Night said her words with conviction. "Star is our leader, in every meaning of the word. Her grandfather essentially is the reason anyone survived the bombing of our district. Even though she was not alive at the time she has naturally taken on the role of leader for the past ten years."

One word: astonishment. "How is that possible? She cannot be older than twenty-five."

"She isn't. Star is twenty-five years old, exactly. At age fifteen she started working at Headquarters and took on the role as our leader after working there for a month. Prior to that, District 13 was surviving. After Star took the stage, District 13 was thriving. I was not here at the time, but people tell me stories, none of them coming from Star, of course. She does not like to gloat and although is a confident speaker as well as leader, she likes to reflect on the glory of the district, not her own. At age fifteen she was simply running copies of important documents from office to office. She read them along the way and created solutions to every problem that was typed on those documents. Three weeks later, she spoke up as she dropped off some papers at a council meeting. As she told them that if the council expanded the resources to the water, all of the refugees from District 4 would be able to participate in providing resources, the overall morale of the refugees would increase as would the amount of resources available. That day she was put on the council and solved every problem they had been unable to manage going back months. She walked in with logical solutions to each problem. Soon after that, the council essentially handed the reins over to her, although she still asked that the council meet and no one be dismissed. If the council still meets, then Star does not have all of the power; because that is the last thing she wants. No one needs an all-powerful dictator again. With a council of people, Star has people that can out way a ludicrous decision, whether it comes from her or someone else, as well as people to bounce ideas off of. If Star believes that she can maintain the illusion that she does not rule District 13, more power to her. Realistically, in her eyes, she doesn't. In everyone else's eyes, Star is our savior and the reason we are still fighting. Or at least she was until you came along." She turned to walk again. "Let's go to work."

We turned the corner of the street to come up this an abnormally large building that I had really not noticed before. Night had pointed it out, but my mind had been filled with other thoughts.

When I say abnormally large, I'm not joking. This building stretched over nearly an entire block, was the only three story building in the district, and there were construction workers currently working on adding a fourth and fifth floor. Being built from marble, the building was not painted like the others. Seven wide columns held the triangular entryway, engraved with the words "DVM SPIRO SPERO." I had no knowledge of the meaning and decided to ask Star about it later. I followed Night and Gale up the marble steps, through the glass doors, with arches and golden frames, into the oddly cool building. Although I felt a chill run over my arms, the building had a comforting aura about it. We walked through the bustling lobby, into one of the elevators, and traveled to the fourth sub floor. Night explained that this building, like many others, had sub floors. The purpose of building beneath the ground was to make the best use of resources and to keep everyone safe. If the Capitol used any new weapons, District 13 wanted to be prepared for the attack. Each house had a basement that had been reinforced ten times over to withstand any radiation, bombs, guns, or mutants the Capitol could concoct. Prim and My mother had already been informed on the emergency protection procedures and they would show me later how the emergency disaster procedure works.

We walked down a ton of halls that all seemed to be the same. _How would anyone ever know which way they were heading? _While still holding Night's hand, Gale turned around, saw my confused expression, and offered me some comforting words. "It'll get easier. Star knows these halls the best. Stick with Star if you can."

"Won't she be bothered by me following her around?" _Especially if she is as busy if Night says she is._

"Not at all. In fact, she wanted us to ask you if you would mind spending time with her. She wants to explain your part here." Night replied.

"What exactly is my part here?"

"You'll have to ask Star, because she hasn't told us yet." Gale responded. Opening a door labeled the "Command Room" by using a security card that was scanned by a monitor, entering in a code, and placing her hand on a pad that scanned her hand print, Night accessed the room and led us into it. Showing video footage from the Capitol and every district, computer screens covered every inch of wall space and in the center of the room was a holographic display, currently showing a topographical map of all the districts and the Capitol. Star stood with adults older than she, and yet, she was the one directing them, pointing out which people from which district needed to be switched out and how soon. I could barely understand, but from what I could tell, they were planning on switching out the sick and helpless citizens with other people ready to fight. Hundreds of citizens from District 13 were going to take the places of people in the districts to make the fighting force stronger and to have even more people on the inside, giving information to District 13. Star individual gave commands to everyone in the room and they immediately set to work. She turned towards Night, Gale, and me, and smiled in relief. She motioned us towards the door we just came through; we traveled further down the hall to a room titled "Star's Sky." The door had a similar security feature to the other one except this door also had voice recognition, blood test by a prick of the finger, and facial recognition. _What could be in here that would require so much more security detail?_

This room was much smaller than the previous one. The room had a glass desk with three monitors, one key board, and one projector similar to the other room's. There were also pictures all over the room of Star with people, most of whom I had never seen before. The longer I looked the more people I recognized. Haymitch and Star from a few years back standing in District 12's Victor Village. Finnick and Star holding up a large fish they had apparently caught together. Cinna and Star looking at my wedding gown. Prim, my mother, and Star smiling in front of our new home. There were many more of people from each district. But my eyes stopped searching when I came to a picture of my Dad and Star. It was years ago and Star looked young, but then again so did my Dad. It was the oldest picture on the wall. They were smiling in the woods, shaking hands and laughing.

"He was a great man, your dad. He was the first person I had the honor of recruiting from a district. He was our first ever inside man from District 12. He had been sneaking us information about District 12 for years, until he was murdered." Hatred leaked into Star's voice.

"What are you talking about? He as killed in a mining accident." I asked turning around to face Star, who was still staring at the photograph.

"I hate to have to tell you this now, Katniss, but there is no way around it. Your father was killed by the Capitol because they had found out he had been a spy for us. The mining accident was no accident at all. There were explosives placed, by the Capitol, just near where your father was scheduled to work that day. Katniss, the Capitol murdered your dad." I almost cried at Star's words. I had been able to handle my dad's death for years, but to have to hear that it was cold-blooded murder just hurt more. I stopped the tears from flowing, took a deep breath, and pushed the emotion back to deal with later, when I was alone.

"Thanks for bringing Katniss here." The anguish was still present in her voice as she thanked Night and Gale. "Beetee is done setting up the shield if you could add the finishing touches to it, Night. The two of you might also want to go see what weapons he has prepped for you both." Regardless of her word choice and the optimistic inflection to her tone, they could sense the hurt in her voice, so they left the room silently with a nod to each of us.

I heard Star move towards the seat at her desk and sit down. She started typing away at her keyboard. "If you'll sit down when you're ready, I can tell you why you're here."

I took another settling breath and moved to sit in the chair facing Star. She kept typing and brought up a map of Panem on the hologram projector. With a few more strokes of her fingers on the keys, she zoomed in on the Capitol, specifically a lower part in the center. She looked towards the projection and pointed to different areas.

"Peeta is being held here, in the center of the Capitol, with the highest security I have ever seen. I said earlier that we were going to break him out, but I am going to need you for this. Peeta will be damaged when we get to him. He will be in a state of physical, emotional, and mental disrepair, at which point the only person he will trust is you. I could send in twenty men today and they would be able to get to him, but getting out of there with him coming quietly would be the hard part. The plans are still in the works, but I need you to help me and Night break into the Capitol. Quite a few others will be used in the process as well, but our main focus will be your rescue of Peeta, my capture of President Snow, and Night's hacking into the Capitol's computer system."

I looked back at Star in utter astonishment and disbelief. "Did you just say that your part of the mission was to kidnap President Snow?"


	4. Katniss: Chapter 4 Untamed

**Chapter 4**

**Untamed**

**Katniss Point of View**

"Did you just say that your part of the mission was to kidnap President Snow?"

Star responded with a cool, collected tone. "Just rescuing Peeta would only save a life, but not cause any serious damage to the Capitol. We needed a better plan of attack, and what better way could there be to take down an army than depriving them of their leader? So I did say that I would be the one to kidnap President Snow. He spends the majority of his time in the same building where Peeta is held in and where the Capitol's main computer system is located. If we break into that building successfully for a long enough period of time, we have all of the tools to bring down the Capitol."

"But didn't you just say that is also the building with the highest security?"

A knowing grin appeared on her face. "I did say that, but what I haven't said yet is that Night and Beetee both designed many of the Capitol's main security." My confused face alerted Star to the necessity of information. "I rescued Night from another district, when I saw her potential. At the time, she had been designing protections for the Capitol to use. The Capitol failed to see her full-potential in time, and they lost that advantage. In the process, I gained a best friend and a great ally. Night, similar to Beetee, had designed nearly all of the security that the Capitol uses, so they understand how to use it to our advantage. Night is going to hack their mainframe, but it can only be done from the inside. Most of the Capitol keeps their information and weapons in District 2, but that specific building has its security system within it, instead of on the District 2 mainframe.

"We will get in using weapons Beetee has created for us among other things, but that is just the beginning. Our plan needs more accuracy and precise steps. We have the basic plan created, and listed the steps that each person must take to accomplish their individual tasks. Your job here will be to help me create those steps which we will follow and use to rescue Peeta. I will need much of your assistance on this, because I can only get so far. I know plenty about the Capitol and President Snow, but only you can truly predict their deceptiveness. You are the person with the must suspicion of the Capitol, and would be default, have the most knowledge about how to plan an attack against them.

"We have files on everything that the Capitol does, and more. The tactical room you saw earlier, with all of the videos, is just a page in our library. All of the maps, cameras, and files of information that we have accumulated will be at your disposal from your house and from your office here."

Star stood up and walked to a blank part of the wall, placing her hand against an averaging appearing piece of wallpaper, which started to scan her hand. The painting next to her hand swung open and there sat a few different sets of manila envelopes. She pulled the top one off of the pile, closed the door, and turned towards me. The envelope had my name printed in dark blue ink on the top. Handing me the envelope, she sat back down.

"That has your identification card and a list of all our basic laws in District 13. There aren't very many, and most are just to ensure that people aren't enslaved by a dictator all over again, forced to watch their children die year after year." Star had this distant look in her eyes, as if she was fighting back tears. Yet, you would not have known whether the look in her eyes was of vengeance or of anguish, because the rest of her expression remained absolutely resolute. Able to push back the pain, she kept talking. "Your identification card will give you access to all of District 13. The files, the maps, the videos, everything. Don't lose this card, but if you do it's not the end of the world. I can have a new one made in a jiffy, and have the old one canceled; I just need to know that it's missing. Especially with the amount of people in District 13, and the number of refugees we have taken in as of late. I don't want you to be afraid, but keep in mind that the Capitol may try anything to break into our system just as much as we are trying to break into theirs, which is why all that you have access to is completely confidential. Everytime you access those files, you will be required to fulfill facial recognition, voice recognition, code combination, and a scan of your palm. We cannot afford to have this information to fall into the wrong hands. Mind you, no one in District 13 that I have met would be capable of being a Capitol spy, but I need you to be cautious, regardless.

"I think that's everything. But if you have any questions, my phone number is in the papers I gave you, and my pager number is also listed next to the phone number. If you have any questions, no matter the time, just call. In the packet is also a pager for your use. Night or Gale can show you how to use it, because I am sure my explanation would just confuse you."

I opened the sealed envelope to find an identification card just like Star's. Plain key card with six random numbers, my name, and a picture of me after the first Hunger Games in the yellow dress, but instead of the full affect that had been intended by the outfit, the photograph had been cropped to just my face. I looked nearly happy in that photograph; granted, I did have a healthy Peeta sitting next to me, and now he's being tortured. I thought back to Star's words from earlier, _Peeta will be damaged when we get to him. He will be in a state of physical, emotional, and mental disrepair._ What are they doing to him? I understand the physical, but mental and emotional disrepair?

"You said earlier that Peeta would be in physical, mental, and emotional disrepair. I understand how they could be hurting him physically, but mentally and emotionally?"

"I was afraid you might ask about that." She rubbed her forehead and took a deep breath. "I don't know how much news you can handle in one day." Frankly, I didn't know either. First the news of District 13, then my dad, and now there is news about Peeta, and from the looks of it, bad news. I was sure that I would break down from all of this strain, but I needed to know. Seeing that in my eyes, Star started typing away on her key board and she brought up an image of Peeta on the screen of her computer. He was in some holding cell of sorts. I don't know what she was concerned about, he looked nearly fine. After all this time I would have thought he would look worse. In fact, all of his injuries looked like the ones from the Hunger Games.

"This is the first video from his captivity. They had not even touched him yet, but they started hurting him emotionally and mentally first." She played the security video. He was chained to the wall and his head lifted ever so slightly as a guard walked in pushing a television on wheels. Saying nothing, the guard turned on the television and stood against the wall, watching his reaction. The video had a reporter describing how the rescue plane, carrying me, Beetee, Finnick, and a handful of other people, crashed just outside of the Hunger Games playing field. Behind the reporter, they zoomed in on what appeared to be a plane on fire, with Capitol workers rushing into the plane to rescue who they could. All of them came out and immediately tried to extinguish the fire. But no one came out bearing bodies. The reporter held up a finger to her earpiece saying that she had late breaking news, "It would appear that our favorite Hunger Games Star has burned in the fire with many others. There are no survivors." Peeta thrashed against the chains, screaming it couldn't be true. "Katniss is alive!" He screamed those words over and over again. While he still yelled, the guard took away the television, saying, "Believe whatever you want, but the girl on fire, died on fire."

Star ended the video with a few flicks of her fingers. She handed me a box of tissues and I realized for the first time that my cheeks were tear stained. "You said that was the first video, what have they been doing to him since then?"

"You can see the videos yourself, because you have complete clearance with your card and all of the videos are in our database, but every day before they torture him for information, they show him the video of the plane crash and short clips of you during the games. They're hoping that it will weaken his defenses, so that he will tell what the rebels are planning. He hasn't ever told, but he knows really nothing worthwhile; however, they don't know that, which is why they continue to show the videos to him. He isn't so sure that you are alive anymore. To weaken the District's revolts, they show the same video footage they show Peeta, and then they show the footage of Peeta's torture. The Capitol believes that if they show the Districts footage of their hero weakening, they will weaken with him."

"Has it worked? Showing them the videos, I mean?"

"Yes, it has, but not to the extent the Capitol would like. I am not sure if you were listening earlier—when we were in the Command Room—but we have been transferring District 13 citizens into other Districts to help create a rebellious force. They feed the people motivational words, saying that you have to still be alive, that District 13 really does exist, that a plan is in motion to take down the Capitol, that there is a way out of this. These people have started replacing the sick and elderly ever since the Quarter Quell was announced. We have plans to transfer in two hundred of our people by the end of the week. And then we can launch our campaign against the Capitol in full force."

"What campaign?"

"I will give you more details later, but essentially we need to make the people truly believe you are alive. There is nothing more motivating to them, than you. You are the force behind their strength, and they need you back in their lives. Star has already hacked the televising system for all of Panem, all we need is a video of you and the other survivors to show that you are alive, and ready to fight. Do you think you could do that?"

_What part? The fighting? The video? Rescuing Peeta? _"I am ready for all of it. Where do we start?"

Star began typing away on her keyboard again. The image of Peeta disappeared instantly and her screen returned to a basic sign-in screen, requiring a user name and a password for entry. Pressing a few more buttons, Star stood up as the screen went black. "I will show you to your office and then we can go train for a few hours."

"Train?" What training would we have to do?

"I know that you were physically fit during the games, but you are not as strong as you use to be. Besides, physical exercise is just as necessary as mental exercise. You will train in combat with me, Night, Gale, Haymitch, Finnick, and Prim."

Unable to maintain any level of calm, I stood up in outrage and began shouting at Star. "Why on earth are you training Prim? Why do you think I do all of this? To keep her out of this." I thought she was helping mom run the shop, not training to fight the Capitol.

"You started doing this to keep her safe, not naïve. I never plan on sending her into combat, but if there were ever something to happen, where she needed to defend herself, are you really going to leave your sister defenseless? You cannot always be there to take her place. She only trains for an hour a day, where as everyone else trains for three or more hours. Your mom still needs her to run the shop, especially now with all of this additional clientele. And do not act like it was my idea, Prim asked for this: I did not demand she participate." As Star spoke her voice remained cool, and her logic, levelheaded.

She moved from behind her desk, to the front of it, so that she could lean against the glass, maintaining a relaxed body position. "I understand your feelings. If my sisters wanted to be trained in fighting skills, I would be furious; but I was never sent to the Hunger Games. Place yourself in her shoes, she has been forced to watch her sister—the most dependable person in her life—enter a fight or die tournament, not once, but twice. Even my siblings haven't watched the Hunger Games; I mean, why destroy their innocence? But every child in Panem is being subjugated to a situation much greater than themselves. Luckily, Prim has come to a certain understanding of this entire ordeal while you have been fighting this battle. Give Prim a chance to explain her decisions, before you make a bomb out of cleaning solution. However," Star stood up to her full height, crossed her arms over her chest, and stared me straight in the eye. "if you disagree with Prim, after she has explained herself, I will stand by her decision and continue to allow her training. Understood?"

"Absolutely. However, once Prim has finished her training, and after this war really gets going, if she asks to go into combat for any reason, I will lock her in her room with every rope and chain you have in this town. Understood?" If Prim was going to train, it would never become of any use.

"Perfectly, but let me tell you part of our deal, mine and hers. I only allowed her to train in the first place if she would be receiving defensive training only. Additionally, she is never allowed to leave District 13 without your approval. Normally that right would fall into the hands of the parent, but your mom relinquished the right to you. Why? I have no idea. The point is, if Prim wants to leave District 13 to play hero with her big sister, she cannot do so without your approval. However, I have promised that once this is all finished I will give Prim permission to travel from district to district to treat the ill and wounded. That was my only real compromise." Star's gaze left mine for a moment to glance down at the watch, wrapped around her wrist.

"Damn," Star slid back into her semi-relaxed demeanor as she picked up a leather, messenger bag lying in the corner of her office. "I promised Beetee I would stop by to check the weapons before he left, and he leaves in ten minutes." She slid the strap onto her shoulder before heading to the door. With her left hand wrapped around the metal handle, she asked: "Would it be alright with you if we stopped by the lab first? It will not take more than fifteen minutes tops."

_As if I could navigate this place on my own to find the training room? _"I don't mind. Lead the way." I gestured my hand towards the door. Grabbing the folder of information Star had given me, I followed after her, as she held the door open. Once we both stepped into the hall, she closed the door and fulfilled all of the security measures to reseal the door. The moment she heard the steal bolts slide into place, Star began power walking down the halls. I quickly raced after, forcing my strides to match hers. We finally left the Labyrinth and slid into an elevator, which dropped fifteen stories into the ground. The doors binged open and Star was power walking again. A few lefts, and a right later, we were opening the door to a room called the "Bee Hive."

The room was excessively large, at least forty feet by forty feet, and the kicker was, there was nothing in it. Except for three, white counter tops, standing in the center of the room, that had nothing on them. If I were searching for weapons, I would pass by this room without a second thought. I guess that was the point, because behind one of the solid table, stood Beetee, who had been bending over, hiding out of sight. He smiled in relief at Star as she walked across the room.

"I thought you weren't going to stop by to approve the weapons. You know what happens when you don't approve weapons, I have to keep making corrections to them."

"You would be doing that anyway, because you're such a perfectionist. Show me what you have got, big boy." She threw him a smile, which seemed to be her specialty. With her words, he tapped the counter top in a few places and then pressed his eye close to the counter for a scanning of his cornea. Then he said the words, "buzzing like a bee in the meadow," for the voice recognition software. Suddenly, the counter tops flipped over, the wall paneling withdrew into the ceiling and floor as racks of weapons and parts were revealed. Lighting flashed on behind each weapon to display it properly.

My eyes glazed over each one: a set of harmless looking, black sunglasses; three dozen platinum rings; headsets which were clearly walkie-talkies (about the only thing I could identify); three dozen pairs of shoes; and the last type of weapon I could identify, guns. They lines an entire wall whereas all of the other 'weapons' I had seen took up about four feet of wall. Every other inch of wall space held pieces of machinery and tools, which seemed to be assembly pieces. Wanting to see what Beetee and Star were toying with, I took strides to the far wall where they were glancing over a completely different set of weapons. These all seemed to be combat weapons: yard long, double-edged swords; numb-chucks; a dozen different type of darts; three knives that looked like they would cut through any piece of meat; an average appearing trident; another gun—but this one was singled out—; and a set of bow and arrows.

"They look great, but which ones have been tested? And are there any problems?" Star inspected each one, starting with the swords.

"Just the swords and the bow and arrows. I had Gale test Darius's knives, and I had Elizabeth and Jenna test the darts and all of the other equipment on the other wall. They said that the glasses, rings, walkie-talkies, shoes, and guns all work fine. The darts don't need any more work, which I think Lavinia will be pleased to hear. Finnick tried his trident, and even though he was just excited to have that, he was overly… appreciative when he saw the new additions of the lasers. Gale is excited to have the numb-chucks while Night is just pleased that her laser gun won't require her to participate in hand-to-hand combat. The necklaces, umbrellas, and detectors will be made next—"

Star cut him off. "Slow down there, Bee. This is better than I could ever imagine, and you got the shield up today?" She asked the question with more appreciation than uncertainty. "You're my hero. I didn't expect to have so much equipment so fast. Bee, you're the best." The old man almost blushed at the words. "We might be ready for The Plan sooner than I had planned. This is great work, but are there any faults? Any kinks that need to be worked out?"

"Nothing, and don't give me so much credit. Having Night to work with makes me move twice as fast. We fix each other's problems, but just having her around is like having ten capable assistants, where as I could never even find one competent one before. Night is a genius. Give her a majority of the credit. Anyways, just test out the sword so I can go home for my afternoon nap."

"With pleasure," a gleeful smiled drifted across her lips as her hand drifted to the handle, attached to the blade. "Oh, and Katniss please test your bow and arrow." Star spoke the words to me, but she seemed transfixed on her weapon. She swished it through the air a few times before moving her fingers ever so slightly and laser blips shot out of the tips, hitting the far wall, causing an ashen blotch to appear. Star was having fun with her swords so I turned to the bow and arrow.

Sliding the quiver over my should, I lifted the bow off of the rack. "This isn't your ordinary bow and arrow, even though I am sure you have a favorite one, this will at least come in second place for sure. The arrows have different characteristics. The red light on fire the second they leave the bow; similarly, the green are filed with this chemical that will dissolve through anything, the orange will explode like dynamite on impact, the blue will incapacitate anyone for two hours, and lastly the black are filled with nightlock, killing anyone instantly, regardless of where the arrow strikes. I have other arrows in the works, but these are the ones that definitely work, but I have applied a mechanism so that they don't explode in your quiver. You have to have your fingers on the metallic end, near the feathers to activate. Once the end leaves your fingers, you have three seconds before it explodes, or is lethal, or whatever its specialty is. Go ahead and test it out on the far wall."

I reached behind me to pull out an arrow, I just happened to pull out an orange one. Without a single thought, I placed it in the bow, lifted the bow up, and let the arrow slice through the air, before it landed on the far wall, right in the center, before it exploded. My ashen mark was slightly bigger than the one Star had created.

I turned to Beetee with a smile, knowing he had made my day with this type of weapon. "It's beautiful, Beetee. Thank you. But do me a favor, make the feathers have a different feel, cause the color identification is great for making the arrows, but the feathers all feel the same, so I will have no idea which is lethal and which incapacitates until I have it out of the quiver and in the bow, which isn't helpful if I am under attack."

"Of course." He smacked his forehead in a why-did-I-not-think-of-that gesture, and set the weapon back on the wall. "I will fix that tomorrow, and then let you get reacquainted with your new weapon." Turning his body to face Star, he asked: "Any problems?"

"None whatsoever." She whispered the words in admiration as she laid the blades back on the counter. "Any other special features I should know about?"

"The blade size and type can change with only a thought, as long as your hands are on the handle. I have programmed in all of your favorites: dagger, bowie knife, straight back, tanto, katana, and so on. I included all of the ones from the list you gave me."

"Even the kitchen knives?" Her eyes finally left the blade, as she turned her face filled with admiration towards Beetee.

"Everything from a paring knife to a meat cleaver." He responded simply, with a hint of enjoyment. He was enjoying his work, just as much as she was.

"Excellent. Now," she clapped her hands together. "Why don't we go to combat practice?" She said to me. "And let me know if you make any more breakthroughs on their system." Her words directed to Beetee.

"I will. And I would like to get started on a plane with in the next two days, but I will need more parts than are available for the engines." His voice was laced with concern I couldn't quite understand. _So what if you didn't have a plane?_

"Elizabeth and Jenna are going out tonight for the parts you need. With any luck they'll bring back the whole thing. We better get going. I want to give them a few more instructions before they head off. See you soon, Beetee." Star gave her partings with a wave, as she power walked out the door. I smiled and thanked Beetee as I followed her. We went back up a few floors, but this hall only had three doors. One on the far right that said 'men's changing room', one on the far left that said 'women's changing room', and one in the center that said 'TRAINING GYM.'

"The changing rooms are available if you need to shower or change into combat clothing, but I prefer to train in this, because it is what I would be wearing on a mission." She motioned towards her army green, cargo pants; black, leather, combat boots; and fitted, black, cotton, V-neck t-shirt. I did not notice before, but she was ready for war. Talking of war just made me think of its victims, and how Peeta had become a prisoner of war. _Would we even get to him in time? _"I don't wear much else, just because there isn't time to change between working and training and heading into battle. You are welcome to change if you'd like." Star's words, broke me out of my anger—temporarily.

"I will train in this." My answer was clipped and short. I needed to let out this building frustration, and what better way to do that than hand-to-hand combat training? Star pushed through the double-door entrance. The room had mats scattered everywhere, mixed in with weights, boxing gloves, jump ropes, and other gym equipment I could not name. The ceiling stretched to at least fifty feet high, but the room was bright, lit with artificial lighting, no windows. I realized that I was gaping at the room when Star had to grab my hand to steer me to the right set of mats.

There was a small crowd gathered of about five people, watching Finnick and Gale battle it out. In a creative leg sweep, Gale knocked Finnick to his back. This ended the match and the pair came over to talk to us, along with the other five people.

"Missed you, babe. Where you been?" Finnick smirked and winked, before picking me up in a bear hug.

"Missed you too, big guy." I returned his hug before turning to the others. There were two girls of equal height and build, but drastically different faces. One had a scar from the top left of her hair line, across her eye, ending at the tip of her nose, while the other's face was flawless. I wish I could say the same for her left arm. From her wrist to her shoulder she had scar tissue from a burn. Both girls stood strong, lean, and resolute, with grins on their faces.

"Katniss, I would like you to meet two of our best thieves, Elizabeth," the girl with the burnt arm, "and Jenna," the girl with the marred face. Star continued with the introductions as I shook their hands. "They'll be working closely with us on the mission I was discussing with you earlier." She was talking about the mission to rescue Peeta. The thought of his name alone inflamed my desire to beat down the Capitol.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Katniss." Elizabeth smiled and answered a question I didn't even know I had. "I burnt my arm trying to steal bread. I would have escaped with three loaves, but a Capitol policeman thought that sufficient punishment would be to shove my arm in the open flame oven for ten minutes. Luckily, the guy had a soft spot—right in the gut." An evil grin grew on her face at some treasured memory.

"It's an honor, Katniss." Jenna smiled with her lips, but it shown through her eyes. "My story isn't nearly as good. I got caught trying to free some mutants from the Capitol's laboratories, but one of the animals scratched me across the face. Apparently, it wanted to stay in its cage. I was just lucky to not lose my eye sight."

"Interesting scars. I almost wish I had some of mine." I could at least wear my scars as proudly as they did. I turned to see who else was part of the crowd. Night stood at ease, offering a gentle expression.

"It's nice to see you again." I gave the words to Night, to let her know that her tour was helpful earlier, to let her know that her guidance so far had eased my day from chaotic to tolerable.

She just nodded in response. As I turned to the last person in the group, I felt my anger burn on sight. _How dare he!_ What kind of person has the audacity to give me a warming smile, like we are the best of friends, when he is a completely horrible, backstabbing traitor? Haymitch.

"How does it feel to finally be out of the hospital?" He said the words as if there was no ill will between us.

"Let me know in a week." Confusion spread across his face at my words, until my fist connected with his jaw.


	5. Night and Katniss: Chapter 5 Step 1

**Chapter 5**

**Step 1**

**Night Point of View**

Haymitch fell to the floor as the force of Katniss's punch threw him to the floor. Everyone immediately rushed to Haymitch except for me. I sidled up next to Katniss, who looked almost relieved. "Feel better?" I whispered to her ear.

"Tons." She whispered right back. Star immediately began giving directions; Finnick should take Haymitch to the hospital.

Finnick replied, "Anything for you, sugar." He winked towards Star and—without pausing to question her orders—Finnick swooped an unconscious Haymitch up into his arms.

Instead of flirting back as most women would, Star just swatted his arm and said, "Oh Finnick, don't toy with my emotions. I know you're spoken for." The playful, platonic banter continued as Finnick began to take lengthy strides across the matted floor of the Training Room. Star turned to ask Gale if he was willing to train Katniss.

With his nod of ascent, he walked to the two of us, with romantic love in his eyes for me, with brotherly love in his eyes for Katniss. She seemed shocked by the difference in emotion, but was immediately at peace a moment later. Who knew what was running through her mind? After such an overwhelming day, my brain would be short-circuiting; I could only imagine how she was handling this overload.

"You think you could throw a few punches at me for a while, Katnip?" Gale joked as he threw Katniss a pair of boxing gloves. She just smiled, said "of course," and slipped her hands inside of the gloves. She and Gale began to spar on the mat, starting up—I'm sure—an interesting conversation.

**Katniss Point of View**

I just sparred a little bit with Gale, but we were mostly catching up on what I had missed while I was in recovery. "So, how did you exactly get 900 people out of District 12 before the bombing?" My curiosity was getting the better of me.

"Night tipped me off by sending a mechanical jabber jay to me. It's her own invention that is exactly like a jabber jay, but she can control it completely and it is all mechanics. Anyways, I was hunting when the bird flew right in front of my face and just started hovering in my line of site. It scanned my face to confirm my identity." I threw a punch that he dodged.

Nonetheless, he continued his reply. "Analysts had picked up on some chatter that District 12 would be bombed. Within the hour, Night had contacted me, and Star had sent out trucks, cars, buses, and planes to bring any survivors back to District 13. The minute I was contacted, I ran faster than I ever have before. I started at the Hob, shouting the news, 'We're going to be bombed like District 13 was, but we won't survive if we don't get out of here. Grab your family and meet me at the electric fence, if you get there before me, just start running. District 13 has sent transportation to pick us up. Get who you can't live without and start running!' I sprinted to my place, telling them to get packed and I would meet them in five minutes. When I went to your house, your mom and sister packed everything in three minutes flat, even the cat. We picked up my family and then ran to the fence. There were twenty people who were already there but thought that the fence was on, so they didn't try to run. I just hollered at them to go through it and make a break for the forest, to get as far away as possible. I sent your family and mine with them. Greasy Sae promised me that our siblings would never starve if I didn't make it, as she went through the fence with everyone else. I went back to search for as many people I could.

"Night has said the bombing would take place an hour after we spoke. Within the first half an hour, only two-hundred people had made it beyond the District. Twenty minutes after that, people came in loads. People from our part of town as well as the Peacekeepers were all trying to make an escape. A few brave Peacekeepers—I don't even know their names, just their faces—volunteered to stay behind and help as many people out of the District as possible, until the very last minute. So I led the group of over eight-hundred people through the forest, as far away from the District as possible. We all were running as fast as we could. And then when we were just under a mile away, we heard this boom as the bombs were dropped on out District. The sound was so shocking and unnatural you could feel it pierce the air. At this meadow, alongside a river, we stopped for an hour to get a head count, to mourn, and to let people rest. Then planes and helicopters started landing in the open spaces around us. Only then did I notice that the jabber jay had followed me, which is how Night was able to track out location. The door of helicopter closest to our mob of people flew open and out stepped Star, looking exactly as she does every day, fierce, confident, and strong. She held out her hand and said, 'My name is Starry Sparrow, I am from District 13. You must be Gale. I am sorry for your loss, but how many did you manage to save?'

"I told her our numbers and then she said, 'You will be our biggest group of refugees yet. Do you mind if I address the troops?' I nodded in confusion, because I couldn't help but wonder why she thought I was in charge. With a group of three men behind her, Star walked over to a boulder, stood on it, and addressed our group of nearly nine-hundred people. Without something to amplify her voice, she hollered, 'May I have your attention? My name is Starry Sparrow and I am from District 13. Whether you believe it or not, District 13 is still surviving and in fact, it's thriving. We would be honored to have you all come to live with us. We have food, houses, a hospital, a school, and so much more. None of you have to work in the coal mines ever again if you don't want to. None of you have to starve ever again. None of you have to sacrifice your children ever again. Now, if you would like to come live with us in District 13, we will be taking children and their mothers first. If you don't want to separate your family, that is completely understandable; we will have more transportation within the next two hours. If you also have a fear of heights, I suggest the ground transportation. Anyone who needs medical attention of any sort needs to come forth to my left where we will begin bandaging injuries and such. If your injuries are severe, we would like to fly you to District 13 immediately where you will receive medical attention. My colleagues and I are available if you have any immediate questions. Please bear with me as we try to sort all of this out. Thank you.' Immediately, the crowd was abuzz with questions and conversations. Nonetheless, she stepped down from the boulder and gave her companions instructions. They filled four of the five different planes with the injured, children, and mothers. Eighty people left on the first planes and helicopters, but they left one plane for communication and in case of an extreme emergency. Little did I know that Star had also sent out an additional plane to survey the damage of District 12. There were no survivors and most of the buildings had toppled down. They quickly left because Capitol workers showed up just as the smoke was starting to clear.

"In no time at all, trucks, cars, and buses broke through the trees. Star coordinated putting people on the buses. Women and elderly were in the buses and cars, while the trucks would carry the men in the back on the bed of the vehicle. My family, Prim, Mrs. Everdeen, myself, and Star flew to District 13 in a helicopter. The feeling was exhilarating, being so high in the air, being able to see everything below us fly by. On the flight, I heard Star speak into a radio, telling one of the planes to do one more sweep with their heat detectors; because they needed to ensure that no one had been left behind. Star was smart to do that, because a kid had strayed from the group to do his business and then he couldn't find his way back. The kid was brave though. When they found him, he was sitting in a tree, eating berries, hiding out from anyone that could be searching for him. If they hadn't had the heat detectors, they wouldn't have found him.

"But everyone that survived the bombings made it to District 13. Star, Night, and I sorted out the housing that night, making sure that everyone either had a house, or would be moved into one soon, but everyone was fed and had a bed to sleep in. So many people had feared that we weren't going to make it a mile, let alone all the way to District 13; then they thought it was a miracle that Star already planned far enough into the future that she had houses, food, and beds prepared for them, especially the food.

"The next day, Star came to every single family's house to introduce herself, to talk over the laws of District 13, to explain the basic lay out of the district, and to ask where they would prefer to work. Everyone was so shocked that they were being asked what they wanted that it took too long for them to decide. Then Star said they could think about it for a day, explore the town, ask other citizens questions, talk over the options, and that she would come back the next day. Everyone split up into different options, some opened up a business like your mom and Prim, others went to work in the agriculture fields, some wanted to go fish so they were bussed out to the coast, some are hunters, and some went to into construction to help expand this building and the new houses. Everyone is more than content in their new jobs. For the first month, everyone is being paid daily, to ensure that they can buy the goods they need without feeling like the money will never come. Star says that it provides them a sense of security, which it has. Everyone has been able to feed themselves, provide themselves with clothing and furniture, so much so they work harder to repay their thanks to the other people of District 13.

"For now though, everyone seems content to rebuild before helping out with the rebellion. Well, mostly everyone. Some people want to join the fight now. Star is letting those people train in combat and weaponry like the rest of us. Some of the Peacekeepers that escaped with us are those that are fighting the hardest to take down the Capitol. Now that they are no longer being pressured into their jobs, they're more than willing to help us take back a nation we all should share."

Gale finished his tale, with a few more jabs towards me, but I dodged just like Atala, the games trainer, taught me to. I managed to drop to the ground and swipe Gale's legs out from beneath him. He landed on the floor with a thud and surprised grunt before the surrounding audience started to applaud. Night came out of the group clapping for me as she offered Gale a hand off of the floor. He smiled my way before saying, "this isn't over Catnip."

"It would seem the bed rest hasn't weakened your strength." Star remarked as she took my boxing gloves and set them just off of the sparring mat. "Well, I have to finish up a conversation with Jenna, Elizabeth, and Night, but we can do that at my house over a cup of tea. Would you like to join us Katniss? I promise it will be much more relaxing than anything else you have done today." She offered a warming smile, knowing that I could deny her if I wanted to catch up with my sister and mom, but the way she raised her eyebrow let me know that this was a conversation I wouldn't want to miss.

The five of us girls left the Training Gym, and headed towards Star's place. We walked in the oak door to a living room filled with forest green couches. Star told us to make ourselves comfortable as she headed to the accompanying kitchen in the back to place a kettle of water on the stove. She came back in less than a minute with an electronic tablet in hand. I had seen the in the Command Room earlier, but had no personal knowledge of how they worked. Star slid her fingers over the screen and then began to read off of it.

"From the intel we have received, the plane is going to leave District 2 and make its way to the Capitol at two in the morning. It will be five in the morning our time, but Liz and Jen, we will stick to our time zone for communications sake. You will be flown into District 2 by helicopter. You will both be disguised as Peacekeepers, as will your pilot. You are to keep a low profile, remember your faces are on record."

"How could we forget that we are on the Capitol's Most Wanted List?" Jenna threw the rhetorical question towards Star as she fist-bumped Elizabeth.

Star simply smirked, proud of her thieves, and continued with the plans. "Night and I will be the only two people—aside from Katniss—who will have any knowledge of this mission here. You are to get in, hijack the hovercraft, and fly it home. Beetee and Night have created a device that will disable any tracking device on the ship. Night Hawk, did you bring it with you?" Star's head turned from Jenna and Elizabeth, to Night, who simply nodded, reached into her bag, and pulled out a black, metallic container. She set it down on the wooden coffee table before giving instructions of how to use it.

"There is a latch on the side of the box, which is barely visible. Lift it only when you are aboard this hovercraft and in the air on your way home. The minute that latch is released, the device activates and disables any beacon devices with in a hundred feet of its location, larger than any craft the Capitol flies. The only problem will be that it will disable the tracking device on the ship, but it will also disable your communication devices. When you are completely out of District 2 and _nowhere_ near District 3, only then can you activate this device. District 3 cannot know that this kind of technology exists, for they will expose it to the Capitol if it means they can get a leg ahead. Do not activate it anywhere near them, for it will mess with their technology and they will begin to figure out what happened quicker than you can say 'opps.'" Night ended her cautionary speech, by laying back into the couch, leaving Star to take over the reins once again.

"Now, I know you have worked without communication devices before, which is why I trust only you two to handle this mission. Night and I will be on the other end the entire time, and then we will be waiting for your arrival home. This mission should be easy for you guys, I mean you have done stuff like this a million times before. What worry me are the shield Night and Beetee just activated and the cargo that ship carries. We need those supplies here, as you well know. But the tracker doesn't need to be disabled just for the sake of the Capitol not following you. The component of the shield that allows normal refugees and civilians through, will not allow any Capitol trackers to pass. Even more than that, anything possessing an active Capitol tracker will disintegrate the moment it comes in contact with the shield. For the sake of your lives and the sake of the supplies, please maintain extra caution tomorrow morning."

"Star, you worry too much. Jenna and I have done this countless times. We will steal the hovercraft filled with medical supplies, escape from the Capitol's clutches, disable the tracker, and be back before you can ask us how we would like our bacon and eggs prepared." Elizabeth sat back as the tea kettle started screeching. With a shake of her head, a roll of her eyes, and a concerned look in her features, Star went to fetch the tea. As she was in the kitchen, the front door opened and shut. I turned around to see who had passed through the hall and was heading to the second floor, but I couldn't recognize the face. The garments the woman wore were unmistakable, for I had seen nothing but that as long as I had been in District 13. A nurse's clothing.


	6. Star: Chapter 6 Lost and Loved

**There are some names towards the end of this chapter involving Star's family. Don't worry about knowing them, because I really just wanted to establish Star's family and how they connect to her as a person. This will develop more as the story goes on but don't be worried about knowing their names, it's really unimportant in the grand scheme of things. Thanks for reading. Less than six weeks until The Hunger Games come out on DVD! Have a great summer and I will post again soon.**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

**Lost and Loved**

**Star Point of View**

I took the metallic tea kettle off the stove and poured the steaming water into my china tea pot. My grandmother had given me her china set when she realized how often I drank tea, especially when I invited people over. To me, drinking tea—even between enemies—is the most civilized way to maintain conversation. Granted, I am in a room of confidants, not enemies. Taking the silver tray back to the sitting room, I set it on the coffee table and let my body drift into my chair, after pouring cups for everyone.

Katniss had a distant look in her eyes as the focused on the staircase. _Why would she be curious about my second floor? She doesn't even know what's up there yet._ Then I remembered the nurse. All of the nurses had been coming and going so often that I rarely noticed their presence anymore, especially when I had so much else on my mind. Like tonight's mission.

"Regardless of the fact that I worry too much and that the two of you are perfectly capable of handling this mission, you need to go rest for a few hours. I will have Hunter come and get you." I spoke the words, but my mind was an array of disjointed thoughts.

"Really, how is Hunter doing? His training is going well?" Elizabeth asked with clear enthusiasm. Elizabeth had shared training classes with Hunter, so their connection was slightly stronger, than the connection Jenna had with Hunter. Jenna brushed off this announcement with nothing more than a quick eye roll; however, she kept her calm and continued to pay attention, even though we strayed into off topic information—at least off topic to her ears.

"Actually, yes. He has his final evaluation coming up in a few days, but he has such promise I can't wait to get him out into the field. Anyways, go and get some sleep. Hunter will wake you and bring you to the landing pad. All of your gear will be ready for you there, as usual." My break in speaking signaled Elizabeth and Jenna to leave. Jenna uncrossed her legs and stood to her full height with graceful ease. She thanked me for the tea and left without another word. Elizabeth did much of the same but also turned to Katniss to impart her own farewell.

"I hope you can join us in the field soon." Elizabeth offered her hand, Katniss took it and shook back, with fire in her eyes.

"You can count on it."

The door shut a moment later. I lifted the saucer and tea cup for another fortifying sip. "Night, I believe it's time we told Katniss about the reason for this mission and the reason for the nurse that was here earlier."

Understanding the signal, Night nodded and provided a suggestion—for Katniss's benefit. "I believe it would be best if she saw with her own eyes first, and we were there to answer questions when they arose."

Night and I stood, but I continued to walk towards the staircase as Night offered Katniss a hand up from the couch and gave her some parting words, guiding her disarrayed thoughts. "At the beginning of the Quarter Quell, when Cinna was assaulted by the Capitol's Peacekeepers, you thought he had died, correct?" From my peripheral vision, I could tell that Katniss nodded ever so slightly in confirmation, unsure of where this was leading. Night continued her whispers, "Well, President Snow thought it would be more advantageous to keep Cinna alive to provide our secrets and yours. Cinna was his back-up plan if you didn't surrender or die at the end of the Quarter Quell. However, President Snow failed to account for our little thieves, Jenna and Elizabeth." With that, I reached the top of the stairs and the hallway that lead to the second floor rooms, heading to the first on the left; I twisted the brass door knob of the mahogany door, stepping aside for Katniss to enter.

She stepped inside the sparsely furnished, harlequin colored room. A steady beeping nose sounded through the room as well as the rhythmic compression and flow of oxygen through the tubes. Standing close enough to the plastic medical bed, a faint dripping could be heard from the IV bag. The room smelled sterile. However, it felt like death. Or as close as anyone could get to death. The room had been a constant for weeks, but Katniss's gasp broke the continuum. Her form drifted to the bedside of Cinna's ashen, barren body. Gashes remained visible on his arms and cheeks and forehead. I knew there were more, having seen them when he was brought into the district. His face remained unshaven and the stubble almost made him look a little more alive. His golden liquid skyline had been washed from his face and—without the earrings and make-up—he appeared to be a different person. Katniss's hand drifted over his bruised knuckles, gingerly wrapping her hand around his.

Night stood on the opposing side of the bed from Katniss, while I stood at the foot of it. After a few minutes of silence, exempting the machines, Night spoke.

"It's okay to feel, Katniss. You're only human after all."

The dam holding the ocean finally gave way and silent tears drifted down the heroine's face onto the hospital sheets belonging to one of her fallen comrades. Knowing my legs would have been about to give way under her circumstances, I brought the wooden stool from the corner of the room and placed it directly behind Katniss. Without a word, she sat and I resumed my place at the foot of the bed.

Another twenty minutes passed before questions and answers could be exchanged, not that it would change the situation, just provide clarity, not hope, not relief, just answers.

"How did you rescue him? How did you know?" Her questions were just barely audible above the clicking and whirring and buzzing of the machines.

"Night and I were spending another late night at the office, combing through the audio and video files we had collected involving President Snow. We knew he had to have back up plans, he had to know you wouldn't give up without a fight. We came a across a cryptic message between him and a man we had never heard of. In our line of work, you come to know every name exchanged behind enemy lines, you have to know the hierarchy and where different people fall in that system to be able to manipulate it. Well, this name we had never heard of, either of us. Nor was the name in any file we had here. Slowly we decrypted the message between the two. The man spoke in a deep, gravelly voice to President Snow, and normally we can place the ranking of a man based on his word choice and tone in talking to a superior, especially as is the case with Snow. But this man treated Snow as an equal, and vice versa. They talked of mundane subjects, like roses and what is necessary to have to perfect rose bush, and how exactly the roses needed to be pruned. However, the other man spoke of tools not needed in gardening and he spoke of 'unyielding branches'. After we decoded the message, we sent Jenna and Elizabeth in for the rescue at the same time Haymitch was throwing a fit with the game makers."

Night and I awaited her next question. She processed the information and fired away. "How badly is he hurt?"

"We have a great hospital here. But it isn't equipped to handle the extent of his injuries. In fact, he would have died if Jenna and Elizabeth had arrived an hour later. Whoever had been torturing him for information had left him left to die with a rib that punctured his right lung. Luckily our doctors could handle that, but his other broken bones needed just time and resetting. Some of his organs were suffering from such poor malnutrition and who knows what else that a few of them needed replacing. We did have some volunteer donors available on stand-by here, but not all of his organs could be so easily replaced. District 2 is, as you know, in charge of military weapons and defense. The medical faction of Panem falls under the military defense, so we have to steal from District 2, which has been simply too far for it to be worth the risk. We would lose more than we would gain." I spewed as much information as I could so that Katniss could feel at ease. I did not want her to feel void of information, she needed to trust people now, and the best way to accomplish that was with the unguarded sharing of information.

And Katniss was not missing a beat with this. "You said it 'has been' too far to be worth the risk. Is it no longer?"

"That's why tonight's mission is so crucial. We need the Capitol plane, not just to be able to transport ourselves over Panem to rescue refugees, and to switch our citizens with those ailing in the districts, we need it for supplies. We are capable of sustaining the healthy and treating slight ailments, but nothing compared to what we will need if refugees flood in from the districts needing treatment from more than malnutrition and scrapes and broken bones. We can't handle major surgeries en masse, which I believe we will need to handle soon. You saw your hospital room: that was just one of the thousands we have prepared for this. About ninety-five percent of them are empty. Every original District 13 citizens and a few dozen refugees have been trained as medical staff. After all, we were the original weapons and medical supplies district. However, if we are going to fight a war with the Capitol, we need strong warriors and we need to make sure that we revive those who have already fought for too long. The hovercraft Jenna and Elizabeth are confiscating is more than simply a way to transport; it carries medical supplies that we need to revive Cinna and a few others."

She contemplated this a bit more then fired her next question. "Put me on that mission tonight."

"Oh hell no!" I said with a firmness to my voice, brokering no argument, even if Katniss wanted to have it. "Even if you had been completely debriefed on the mission—which you haven't—and even if you were emotionally stable—let's not even touch that topic—you are barely physically capable of taking on Peacekeepers if everything gets shot to hell on the mission. Besides, I need you healthy and safe, and so does every other citizen in Panem. You will do everyone more good if you stay safe and train until you have the capabilities to take on ten Peacekeepers at once and come out victorious."

Katniss didn't look remotely convinced. I needed to make her see reason and how could I if she wanted to vindicate the lives that had already been sacrificed. "All of those starving men, women and children who are being mistreated in every other district need their hero—or in your case heroine—to lead them into battle. You give them a reason to hope and fight. Right now, they are fighting in honor of your blood they think was shed. Imagine how much harder they would fight for their freedom if they knew that there was a way out, if they knew they could fight the Capitol and survive just as you have." I stood up and started gesturing around the room, throwing my hands up in defeat. "Don't you get it? Parents don't fight the Capitol for their kids' lives, for the hope that their son or daughters life will be spared in the reaping every year. But they would fight if they knew there was another way. You volunteered for Prim, to save her. You sacrificed your life for hers. Don't risk it all just for a few medical supplies that will be safely stolen anyways. I am not telling you to give in, I am telling you to fight the fight here, until we have the means for you to fight the fight out there. Just wait. That's all I ask, is to wait for the opportune moment to strike. Think of it as shooting game. You let the arrow go to soon, you may not have all of the factors in your head to ensure that it will hit the target."

"But if you wait too long, the game flees and may not be seen again. Tell me how are you going to know when is the right time to rescue Peeta? When is the right time to go after Snow? When is the right time to sound the alarm and bring all hands on deck? When will you know?" Katniss hollered back, the emotional dam having burst and the rage finally slipping between the cracks.

"Instinct. You know how to shoot an arrow. I know how to deal with the Capitol. You train and help prepare the ultimate plan of attack; and leave the timing up to me. If you think we have waited too long, you tell me and we can discuss whether to rush into battle or to hide in the bushes to prepare out final strike. Talk to me and I will talk to you. Communication will get us through this war. So if you agree to speak up, I'll agree to listen. Deal?"

"Deal." Still grasping Cinna's hand, she offered be her other hand as a sign of good faith.

"Now, I have to go talk to my family for a bit. Night, I know you would want to do the same. Katniss, it is up to you if you would like to spend more time with Cinna or not." Reaching into my back pocket, I grabbed the key. "Here is the key to my front door. Come and see him anytime you have the want or need. If you would like to live with your family, you are more than welcome to do so. Just know that I do have a few spare rooms here if you feel the need for distance. Do you have a way to tell the time?"

"No, I don't."

Unlatching the strapping of the watch on my wrist, I threw it to Katniss. "I have a few more. Take this. Make sure to meet in front of Headquarters by eleven tonight. Their helicopter takes off at midnight and we want to ensure that all is safe and secure for their mission. I should advise that you bring paperwork, because their flight to District 2 is going to be relatively by the book. Might I also suggest getting a few hours of sleep between now and then, if not at least some time away from all of the commotion."

Katniss and I exchanged mutual nods of understanding, before I took strides towards the door. Night followed, after telling Katniss, "remember, you're only human. It's okay to breakdown every once in a while. Star and I are here to help you get back up again."

Star and I left my place and began walking down Hickory Lane. Her house and family lievd right next door to my house, so we said our short goodbyes quickly. But I imparted one question before she went inside, "how do you think she is going to hold up?"

Night gave me her well thought out answer. She had been the one to spend more time with her today. "There are different events I believe could trigger extreme reactions out of her. Spending time with her family is going to weigh on her, so I bet she moves in with you by the end of the week, especially when she realizes she will have to pass the Bakery to get to her house. However, I think once she sees this mission tonight, that will give her strength. My most concern lies with the video footage she is going to see. Between the suffering of the citizens of Panem and the sufferings of Peeta, I don't know if that is going to break her or push her harder. We just have to remember to back her up."

"Don't I know it. Well, go have dinner with your family, and I'll go have dinner with mine. See you in a few hours?"

"See you in a few." Star and I exchanged our little secret handshake before parting ways. Moments like sharing our secret handshake every time we parted reminded me that we were still young, but we had too much to live for and too much to fight for.

I did my short walk down Hickory Lane, past the Bakery, past the new Everdeen home, to the old Sparrow home. It was a tradition in my family to have dinner every night at six o'clock. I couldn't always make it, but I made it a point to go if I wasn't working on something imminent.

I stepped into the loud household and could smell the tomato sauce and garlic bread from the living room. My four nieces and five nephews decided to make it a competition to see who could climb to the top of my shoulders first. Then my sisters and sister-in-laws made an effort in at least trying to scold them into thinking this wasn't okay. I grabbed as many of the rascals as I could and began hefting them on my shoulders, while two of them sat of my feet and hugged my calves. I dumped them all ceremoniously on the empty space of couch before beginning to tickle whatever munchkin I could get my hands on.

They all laughed and giggled and begged me to stop. So I redoubled my efforts. Not thirty seconds later, my mom called out for dinner and they all rushed to the dining room. I turned towards the couches to see my brothers and sisters and their other halves all lifting themselves off the couches. I had three brothers and three sisters. My three sisters were younger and my three brothers were older. However, even though I was smack dab in the middle of the ages, I was the only unmarried one in the group. Two of the sisters were pregnant, one was holding a baby, and the three sister-in-laws were exactly the same: two in the oven and one being cradled. The brother-in-laws were all caring by either taking the baby or helping their wives get off the couch.

It was hugs and kisses all around, even though I had seen all of them last Friday when I was able to squeeze in a family dinner. Even with my hectic schedule, I still managed to run into more than half of my siblings or their significant others wherever I went. You couldn't take a step into District 13 without walking into a member of the Sparrow family, either by blood or marriage.

My redheaded (getting the coloring from our mother) sister Ariel was the first to say, "you work too much. You need to come to family dinners more often." Her insistence was paired with her hand absent mindedly rubbing her pregnant belly.

Of course they all agreed, but I had to reply, "I enjoy my work and somebody's got to do it."

The brawny brother of mine, Ronald (always Ron to me), could only take Ariel's side by saying, "there are plenty of people working at HQ to give you time to take an hour for a family dinner."

Again I retorted, "Since when have these dinners only lasted an hour? Besides, half of the time my prime work is during dinner time. You know the Capitol is a buzz with activity at four in the afternoon their time."

"But how are you supposed to meet guys if you are always working?" Katherine, my blonde, recently slim, sister insisted in a loud enough tone, knowing her newborn baby could sleep through sirens.

"I meet plenty of men in my line of work. Didn't I tell you that a single man from District 12 said he would marry me for saving his child from the bombing?"

"Crazed men on the verge of recovering from a near death experience do not count." Kevin, Kate's husband, supported his wife with a contradiction to my statement.

"Why not? He even kissed me after I asked him where he wanted to work and which house he wanted to live in. I think that qualifies that I meet men in my line of work." I was losing ground here, and my arguments were beginning to sound less rational.

"If you didn't have a dozen experiences like that, we might let it count, but you don't even let these men take you out to dinner." Isabella discounted my claim but then opened up another arguing point for me.

"Kevin just said they were crazed men, so by your logic, Isabella, I should date these crazed men?" I was arguing with my siblings and their spouses only to humor them. It didn't matter if I was working or not, the right man hadn't come along and someday he would. The day he did, I would ask him to marry me—or at least ask him to go out for drinks.

"Stop hounding my daughter and come sit at the dinner table. You know my grandkids have to wait until everyone is sitting and they are all patiently waiting to start eating, as is your father." My mother halted all further arguments and shuttled everyone into the dining room. She hugged me though and kissed my forehead as I wrapped my arm around her waist.

"Don't let them push you into marriage. The right guy is out there, waiting for you." She whispered in my ear.

"Thanks mom. You know I only even argue back to humor them."

"I know." She winked at me and took her seat at the end of the lengthy table, opposite my father. He smiled at me, and said "Hey, baby girl."

"Hey, dad. Missed you." I spoke as I hugged him and kissed him on the forehead.

"I missed you too. Now, sit down so we can eat. I'm famished." He smiled towards my mother and shook out his napkin, before placing it across his lap.

"You're always hungry. No matter how much I feed you, you will always say yes to more." My mother shot back at him with a grin on her lips.

"It's 'cause your cooking is too good to pass up." I sat down, grinning at my parents' playful banter. Dinner began and conversation flowed easily.

I joined in answering the questions of my nieces and nephews, as well as the questions of my siblings and parents. My brothers all worked in construction, while my brother-in-laws were divided between doctor, farmer, and hunter. My sisters and sister-in-laws had their jobs divided between teachers, nurses, and farmers equally—even though they were all taking work off now to raise their children. No one except for my mother and father had worked in Headquarters, so no one except my parents truly knew how much my job entailed. Hence why my mother always came to my defense and why my siblings could hardly understand why I spent so much time at my job. I had traveled to the other districts and seen the poverty, and even lived it for a period of time. My siblings barely understood the trials the rest of Panem was facing. Sure they knew the importance of the fight and wanted Snow and the Capitol out of power, but they didn't feel as much urgency as I did in ending this war.

Luckily, my dad loved asking questions about work, now that he was retired. He consulted on occasion for HQ, but only when we were completely in the dark.

"Baby girl, how was work today? Anything exciting happen?" He posed the question before taking another bite of buttered, garlic bread.

"Every day is exciting, but today had an extra bit of spice. The nurses informed me that Katniss was finally ready for release from the Hospital. She hadn't even been out for more than six hours before she knocked out Haymitch and sent him into the hospital. Today certainly wasn't dull, that's for sure. And Beetee finished putting the shield in place. So brothers, you will be extra busy now, because there is nowhere to go but up." I smiled, twisting the noodles around my fork before popping another bite in my mouth.

Ron was the first to speak, and not about construction. "Katniss, that tiny little thing, sent Haymitch to the hospital?"

"Oh yeah. One good right hook and he was out. I almost felt bad for Haymitch, but he was asking for it. He should have avoided her like the plague for at least a few days after she was released. Greeting her with a grin and asking about her stint in the hospital was not the way to approach her, especially after all that has gone on with Peeta. Frankly, Haymitch is lucky to be alive."

Dad whistled at the story in pure shock. "Well, it looks like you and Night have a fire cracker on your hands."

"Good, because we need all the fire power we can get." I smirked back at dad, and he knew exactly what I meant.

The kids started asking me about Beetee and the weapons, about Katniss, and about Haymitch being in the Hospital. They wanted every detail and some of it I had to fib a little as to not be scolded by my sisters and sister-in-laws for being too gruesome at the dinner table.

After dinner, I gave my farewells, hugs and goodnight kisses, telling everyone I would come for dinner tomorrow if I wasn't too busy. If this mission went well tonight, I would be sure to eat another dinner with family. The more time I spent with them, the less they pestered me about not being romantically involved with anyone. For goodness sake, I am twenty-five, not fifty. I had a few years left in me before I really needed to settle down.

I went back to my place and crashed for a few hours on the couch, making sure my alarm would wake me up fifteen minutes prior to eleven. That would give me plenty of time to catch up on some sleep. But as I drifted off, I couldn't help but wonder how Katniss had faired with her own family.

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**More to come soon. I promise. But if you post a comment, I might feel more inclined to post sooner ;) Anyways, I hope your summers are going well and that you are keeping cool in the summer sun. Do you think the mission will go as planned? Or will Elizabeth and Jenna have trouble along the way? Find out in the next chapter of _The Plan_.**


	7. Katniss: Chapter 7 Captain

**This chapter is dedicated to my friend, who just had a birthday, and has been excited about this story for a while. May the birthday cakes be ever in your favor, Elizabeth.**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

**Captain**

**Katniss POV**

All I could do was feel. Night told me to be human, so I sat for an hour, sobbing over Cinna's lifeless body. He was still alive, as the monitors told me so, but the life was absent from his face, from his skin, from his unmoving body. I am not sure my cries were silent, in fact I am positive that I sounded like a wounded deer as the tears dripped off of my chin. My gaze was set on the tubes connected to Cinna's face, forcing oxygen into his body. The tears dripped down my face, and I naturally should have wiped them away, but I remained incapable of movement. Drip. Drip. Drip. Splash.

I would have stopped crying at some point if the tears were for Cinna alone. But how could they be? After all that I had been through, all that I had seen, these tears had to be for more. Rue and her innocence. Dad and his bravery. Cinna and his compassion for my survival. Madge Undersee and her consideration in giving me the pin. Mayor Undersee and his ability to turn a blind eye for the well fair of his people. Thresh and his honor for giving me a chance to live because of Rue. It all circles back: their deaths and their sacrifices in life are all connected. Keeping their courage and tenacity in mind, I shed every tear, but stood up against the depression that nearly crushed me. I left the room and sought my family. As I headed down the street, people smiled my way. Whether it was because they were simply being kind or knew who I was, I will never know.

The last patient was walking out as I walked in. A bell tinkled as I opened the door. Prim and Mom turned my way immediately, and relieved smiles drifted across their faces. Prim rushed to my side, her arms wrapping around my slim waist as she held me tight. She had grown stronger, beefier. District 13 had fed her well, and maybe Star was right about allowing Prim to train—she could defend herself. Still my delicate flower, I felt her tears stain my shirt.

I wrapped my arms around her and not soon after, I felt Mom's arms wrap around my shoulders. We stayed embraced for a few minutes, even though I was use to Prim's affection, receiving it from my mother was—unusual. I acclimated to her compassion over the course of those seconds. The hug by the end almost felt normal. Almost. We separated, and then I wiped away what remained of Prim's tears.

"I missed you. Star said it wasn't good to see you while you were recovering, but I wanted to go, every day."

"I know, Prim. But Gale told me stories, said you were doing well. Why don't we eat dinner and you can tell me more?" My hand brushed over her hair, which had only grown longer in the time we had been apart.

We sat down to eat food I can hardly remember tasting. Maybe it was beef, or venison? What I can say with complete confidence is that I had missed Prim. Her animated recounting of stories broke my heart. She told me about her goat and Buttercup. Gale had helped her save Buttercup, but the goat had managed to survive the bombing on his own, and found his way back to Prim. She told me about what happened during the games, how Gale continued to teach her to set traps, but he hadn't been able to teach her to use the bow to shoot an arrow. During the bombing, Prim saved our father's bow, even though she hardly used it before.

"I knew that you would miss it, so we saved his jacket and his bow." Prim smiled at me, hopeful that her act would be seen as brave and kind, rather than reckless.

"You are right. But I would miss you more. Next time, just get yourself to safety. But seeing as how you did save his bow, I'll teach you how to shoot. But I am only allowing this, and your training, on one condition. You never leave District 13, until the fighting is over. Deal?"

She jumped out of her chair, and came to wrap her arms around my center. "Absolutely," she whispered. Conversation shifted after that moment to District 13, and how the remainder of District 12 seemed to be handling the adjustment. According to my mother, everyone felt safer. She was prescribing fewer and fewer anti-depressants and relaxants. They also told her as much.

Time raced past me, and before I knew it, Star's watch read seven o'clock. Star suggested I try to sleep for a few hours, and now I felt that I needed that sleep. The day's events weighed down on my eyes, and I could have fallen asleep at the dining table. How had I made it through today without resting? I guess the Hunger Games conditioned my body to function under minimal rest.

I thanked my mom for the meal, and kissed my sister on the forehead, before searching for my bedroom upstairs. Prim offered to lead me there, but I had the urge to find something on my own. Once I found the only room that had yet to be decorated, I collapsed on the bed. I would have cried, and maybe should have, but my body wouldn't allow it any longer.

Half an hour before eleven, the watched beeped at me, waking me from nothingness. I rubbed the exhaustion out of my eyes, and then started toying with the watch to make it shut up. I looked around the room, noticing that there was a desk and dresser set up on the wall with the window. As I slipped on the combat boots, I realized there was a scanner on the corner of the desk and nothing else. I went back to the bed where I left the files Star gave me earlier. I pulled out the ID card and scanned it on the desk. The top of the wood opened, and a screen rose out from the innards of the furniture. A voice sounded from the speakers asking me to move my face in front of the screen for scanning. I did as it said, and shifted to sit in the worn, wooden desk chair. After that it asked me to read an innocuous sentence about hunting and game. Then the computer commanded me to place my right palm against the screen. Before the computer completely let me into the system, a prompt appeared, saying I needed to set up the personal combination code with Night Hawk to have full clearance. Instead, I was forced to answer a few security questions to access the files on tonight's mission.

I thought about looking at some of the information they gathered on Peeta, but left that for when I had time and will power to handle the onslaught of emotions. I closed out of the system, grabbed the papers with the laws of District 13 and the printouts of the information for tonight's mission, and briskly walked from my house to the front of Headquarters. Star and Night were waiting for me at the steps, offering equally kind smiles before we went inside. This time the elevator took us to the second floor. All three of us had to scan our ids to be allowed entrance into the room, labeled the "Mission Room."

"What's the difference between the Mission Room and the Command Room?" I asked before we stepped inside. In appearance, they differed greatly. In the Command Room, there had been an interactive space towards the center of the room, where as the Mission Room had metallic legged, glass topped desks, sectioned into different levels so everyone would have view of the wall they all faced, covered from floor to ceiling in a giant screen, sectioned off into different images. I could see the town-squares of District 4 and 11. I could also see the Mayor's offices of District 2 and 1. They even had camera angles on the Capitol. The room was filled with about thirty people all facing the screens, typing away on their individual monitors on the desks. I wondered how many people in the room ran away from a District displayed on the screens. How many had come from the Capitol if any? How many people had ever seen any of these images in person? I had, but I also was privileged and cursed in that sense, being a victor, but not at all.

"The Command Room is used for ongoing problems, where I essentially assign tasks, work out problems, work out the day to day kinks, as well as long term issues. Everyone in the Mission Room has no idea why they are here. When a mission is planned, only those immediately involved have time to prepare, everyone here shows up and works with our gathered information to help see the mission through. No one here knows what mission is being fulfilled until Night Hawk or I tell them, and we wait until the moment the mission is about to start. It's for the safety of everyone involved. The Mission Room is exclusively used for currently enacted missions. And no one can leave this room until the mission is complete, unless they receive explicit permission from me, Night, and one other impartial member. But if you need to use the restroom at any point tonight, the door on your back left opens to the restroom. Now, Night, would you like to do the honors?" Star asked, sliding the paper work out of her messenger bag, onto the highest leveled desk in the room, centered to have the best view.

There were three chairs at this desk. Night motioned for me to set my papers down in front of the seat on the far left, while Night settled in the center seat. She gestured to the stage of sorts in front of the screens and said, "Have at it," with a grin crawling onto her caramel skin.

A similar smirk appeared on Star's lips, but she just shook her head and wandered down the center steps towards the front. As she went, she slipped on a headset, complete with mouth piece. As she turned towards us, her face held none of the grin from a moment ago. Her eyes traveled over every member of the audience before her voice came over a set of speakers, "Tonight's mission is crucial, just like every other mission. Our two best thieves, Elizabeth and Jenna, who we will now only refer to as Eagle Eye and Blue Jay for security purposes, will be taking a helicopter transport to District 2. They will be disguised as Peacekeepers, just like their pilot, and their helicopter will also be disguised as a District 2 transport. Their flight codes and any other pieces of information—preciously given to us by people who have sacrificed much—are in the notes that are now accessible to you all on your monitors. You will be using this information to help ensure that their flight is cleared through the District 2 security. They will be stealing a Capitol hovercraft transport, filled with medical supplies. Then they will be flying back here, but in order to get passed the newly established shield, Night had to create a device that would shut off the tracker in the hovercraft. The only fault is that we will lose communication with Eagle Eye and Blue Jay until they pass through our shield. We've completed missions without communication before, but once their radios go silent, you all need to kick into hyper drive by monitoring the information and radios of other districts, especially along their flight path. We don't need anyone noticing something they shouldn't. Once they land here, the craft will be taken to the new hanger for Beetee and Night's dismantling, so we can confirm that it is safe for our continued use. The supplies will need immediate transport to the hospital and other medical clinics. I will need two of you, and you know who you are, to have the trucks and cars carrying the supplies on stand-by. They have already been notified during which hours they might be needed, but when the time comes, you will need to be calling them all up. All of them. I know it sounds ridiculous to need all of our vehicles, but trust me when I say, this ship is carrying a monstrous load of supplies. I will remind you again at the end of this mission, but I say it now, remember to fill out your reports on this mission. I've never received a late or incomplete report, so let's not start now.

"Finally, you all understand how badly this mission needs to be completed for the sake of our soldiers coming home, for the sake of being able to heal our wounded, and for the sake of having access to speedy, covert transport across Panem. Let's get this done, and get it done right." With that, Star clapped her hands together and everyone set to work, reading the information on their screens.

Star strode back up the steps and went to typing on her own computer and occasionally glancing at the files she placed on her desk. This quiet work place lasted for all of three minutes before Star placed a hand to her headset, listening closely, and then hollering, "Mike, our birds our ready, bring their microphones over the speaker and, Jessie, put their camera angels on screens five, six, and seven. People, make sure your ass is comfortable in that chair, we're going to be here for a while."

Flight codes passed back and forth between the pilot and a person in one of the row ahead of me.

Eagle Eye—Elizabeth—spoke up on the radio before takeoff. "We're ready to go, Captain Sparrow. Anything happening on your end?"

Star commanded the team next. "Report in."

"District 1, clear."

"District 2, clear."

"District 3, clear." And a designated person from each group in the room reported in all the way from District 1 to the Capitol.

"Eagle Eye and Blue Jay, you have the all clear. You're ready for takeoff. We want you to check in every half hour, and then every five minutes in the last thirty minutes before landing. Ready have some fun with Snow?"

"Abso-fricken-lutely. James, take us up." Blue Jay—Jenna—responded before taking off.

There was little interesting correspondence for the next three hours. Everyone monitored the radios and security cameras of each district as the plane flew over Panem. I leafed through the files Star gave me earlier. I stopped once I reached the laws of the District 13. In fact, the list of laws was labeled the Constitution of Votum Vitae.

"What does Votum Vitae mean? I thought this was District 13's laws?" I showed them what I was reading and Star chuckled.

"We couldn't exactly call ourselves District 13 forever, especially if we don't associate ourselves with Panem or with the government of Panem, mainly the Capitol." Star responded, her fingers still running over the keys on her computer.

"A teacher in town tried studying other languages the past few years, and she suggested Latin to us, telling us it was a resilient language, just like our spirit of people. So our country name because Votum Vitae, The Hope for Life, roughly translated of course." Night finished explaining, her own hands ghosting over her keyboard as well.

With this I started to read over the laws. It started with ascertaining the people's rights: the right to create, reconstruct, or disassemble the preexisting government for a government more fitting of the times, the right to freedom of speech and press, the right to assemble peacefully, right to freely exercise religious beliefs. The laws continued, saying the government was not allowed to search your home without a warrant to be sanctioned by multiple unbiased, government officials; saying that anyone accused of a crime had the right to a speedy trial, punishment determined by a group of unbiased citizen; saying that the citizen can remain silent and does not have to incriminate his or herself; also saying any citizen can defend his or herself, but also has the right to a lawyer—I had to ask Night what this was, and apparently it's a person who defends you against whatever you are being accused of.

"How did you guys write all of this up? It seems pretty elaborate to make within a few decades." I said, gesturing to the ongoing files I had yet to read.

"We stole it. Well, let me rephrase, we edited and elaborated. The people who were here before us, I mean centuries ago, before Panem, created their own laws. It took time—centuries—to create, what we found. We added some a lot of points and took some away that simply don't apply to us. What part are you at?" Night asked, peering at the section I was reading. "You're still in the Bill of Rights. It was their list of amendments to their constitution, their way of adding any rights that had been missed in the original writing of the document."

Star continued explaining their constitution's creation. "An entire board of us sat down, about fifty of us, a decent amount of people in this room and from the Command Room. My grandfather had miraculously preserved in his basement the documents—copies of course—from the old country. We collectively sat down, after reading all of these documents, to create our own constitution. Because a large chunk of the documents were about protecting the people's rights, we thought we would do the same."

"But that country didn't survive, proven by the fact that we are here, so why would their laws work for us?" It didn't make sense that if a great country had fallen, and we took its place, that its laws would be any good.

Star rubbed the back of her head in frustration. "That was my argument from the beginning when I presented these papers to the council. But we have no knowledge of why this old government crumbled, and it could have been nothing more than an uncontrollable plague, or something devastating like unparalleled war with the outside world. We just have no idea, and it would be unwise to look at this gift, this century's worth of trial and error, and ignore it."

"So what is the difference between this," I shook what was in my hands, "and what they wrote?"

"Skip to the next page and start reading where it says 'The Children's Rights.'" Night suggested.

I flipped the page and scanned until I found the bold lettered heading. _These following rights shall never be obstructed and the dismissal of these rights is punishable by life imprisonment._

_No child shall be forced to work in the fields, factories, hospitals, shops, etc._

_No child shall be forced to fight to the death._

_No child shall be forced to fight with or without a weapon in any setting._

_No child shall be forced to participate in any violent acts._

_No child shall be forced to suffer for the entertainment of others—televised or otherwise._

_No child shall be asked to answer for the crimes of their parents, relatives, or guardians._

_No child shall be punished for crimes they were coerced into committing._

_No child shall be punished with life imprisonment or death._

_All children shall be given an education equal to that of every child in this nation._

_All children seeking shelter can find it at a school, hospital, or government building._

The pages continued, listing the rights of all the people. That people had a right to choose their profession, how they wanted to work. And then there were listed what acts were punishable in court of law: theft, assault, kidnapping, murder, breaking and entering into a private property, and the list went on. Frankly, none of that happened in the districts, so I wondered why it was listed at all.

"The Capitol isn't all sunshine and daisies. Those sorts of things happen there, especially because there are the divisions of class within the Capitol, too." Night responded to my question.

Star followed, her mind linked with Night's. "People strive for money and power, if there is even a small chance they could obtain it. If we created a new nation, we just wanted to be sure that these precautions were already in place."

I set down the files. Tiered of reading, tiered of being miserable with the state of our lives, I rubbed my eyes, hoping I could rub away all of the atrocities I had seen people commit against each other. Star elbowed me in the ribs. "Don't look so broken. We're working towards the light at the end of the tunnel, and it's looking brighter every day."

"I don't see very much brightness, Star. In fact, it's looking perpetually dark around here."

"Katniss, you just need to open your eyes. Look at this room, look at the screens. We have determined people in this room, this nation, all working for a day they can watch their kids play in the streets and not have to worry that they're going to be forced to fight for their lives. And it's already starting. We already have 15, 000 people who get to watch their kids grow up, knowing they won't be asked to endure the Hunger Games." I tried to change my facial expression, to at least mask my depression, but I failed even at that. Star finished speaking, as if nothing she said had impacted me. "Eagle Eye and Blue Jay better get these supplies back, because I need Cinna to make you see the bright side of life, again."

That froze me. Star was right, I had lost my ability to see the light after losing Cinna and Peeta. How could I not? But Cinna would probably be disappointed that I wasn't trying harder. I hadn't lost my will to fight, just my will to see the fighting to the victory. All I could see was vengeance, not the prospect of life after this rebellion.

Before I had the chance to respond to Star, she held her hand up to her ear piece, as Eagle Eye's voice came over the sound system. "We're landing, and for record's sake, it's 4:30 am. We will be leaving our transport and heading to the plane momentarily."

"Continue on, Eagle Eye. Update us once you two are aboard the aircraft."

"Yes, Captain Sparrow."

"Eagle Eye, stop calling me Captain."

"Is that an order, Captain Sparrow?" I could hear the smile in Elizabeth's voice as she goaded Star.

Everyone in the room tried to hide their chuckles behind coughs or the typing of their keyboards.

"Here's an order, pay attention."

The room went silent, and waited for Eagle Eye and Blue Jay to exit the plane. We could watch the action from the surveillance cameras in District 2 and from the hidden cameras in the helmets that Eagle Eye and Blue Jay were wearing as disguise. You could see them walking, straight backed, face forward, focused only on finding the plane. One of the crew, the person in charge of directing the District 2 camera watch from earlier directed Eagle Eye

I whispered a quick question to Night, not wanting to break the tension in the room. "What about the pilots who are supposed to be flying that aircraft?"

Night just chuckled, as if she were laughing at some inside joke, whispering back, "let's just say, they are a bit tied up at the moment."

I decided to ignore that and continue to watch the mission's progress on the screen. Eagle Eye and Blue Jay walked straight past every guard, every Peacekeeper, every pilot and personnel, and none of them suspecting anything out of place. The pair handed over a copy of the flight plans to the man guarding Bay 26, where the craft resided. Then they marched right onto the plan and began flipping the switches to the plane, reporting to the District 2 flight command center. When they cleared for take-off, they reported back to us.

"We'll see you in three hours, Captain. Remember, I like my eggs cooked through, and my bacon crispy." Eagle Eye directly disobeyed Star, and just keep turning on engines and checking over every switch and panel in the cockpit.

Star crossed her arms in resignation, with a huff, mumbling "not your stupid captain."

Eagle Eye and Blue Jay finished turning on all of the instruments in the plane. Slowly, the plane crept out of the bay, and into the air. Eagle Eye and Blue Jay gave updates on the plane's specs to us as they flew over District 2. The room grew stiff again as they neared the border of District 2.

"As soon as we cross over, we'll be disabling the tracker. Anything happening that we need to know about?" Blue Jay reported stiffly.

"Report in." Star commanded, again.

"District 1, clear."

"District 2, clear."

All of the others cleared as well. "You two have the all clear. Come on home." Star replied. Everyone's fingers were flying over the keys, keeping their eyes peeled on what was going on in each district. But it was too early in the morning for anything of consequence to be happening. District 2 was an anomaly, just because of how closely intertwined their jobs were with the Capitol.

I kept my own eyes, searching the screens, finding nothing out of the ordinary happening. I couldn't focus on my own papers. I could always read them over later in the day. Now, my mind wanted to focus on searching the screens. Elizabeth called in, just as they were crossing the border.

"We'll be crossing now, and Blue Jay will be turning on the black box while I continue to fly. I want my breakfast waiting for me, Captain."

"It will be if you get that plane back here, safely." Star commanded, ignoring the Captain address.

"I'm turning off the box, now." Jenna said through the radio before it cut-off and we all heard the fuzzing of radio come over the speakers in the room.

Regardless of the lack of communication, Star took control and spoke over the system. "People, you know the drill. Just because we can't communicate doesn't mean our work ends hear. Keep a vigilant eye over your own assigned district and make sure nothing slips past us. Mark and Bou, it's time to call up the trucks. I want them all with their vehicles at the landing strip in an hour and a half. Who knows how quickly that bird actually flies and we don't want to be twiddling our thumbs, looking unprepared, if it lands sooner than we expect."

Night's vision locked in on her own screen, but the images flew so fast I wasn't sure what on earth she was looking at. So I nudged her in the ribs and asked, "what can I do? I feel like I should be doing something."

"Have you finished reading the laws, already?" Her thin brow rose with skepticism.

"I have, and the other papers I brought were about Peeta, but I am not sure I can read those here."

Her brow lowered and her eyes softened in understanding. "Honestly, I thought you would spend the entire night reading through that. I am not sure we have much you can do."

"The laws are straight forward. I kill, steal, or be a generally horrible person and I go to court and then prison. Simple enough. Should I be scanning the screens or calling the truck drivers or something?" I gestured to the room and shrugged my shoulders, feeling the need to be helpful.

Night just smiled and told me that scanning the screens would be helpful, but her grin said something else. When I asked what she wasn't saying, she told me, "the people would freak if they had Katniss Everdeen calling to wake them up."

I didn't think so, but left that comment alone as my eyes scanned the images on the wall. Nothing really happened in the next hour. When the clock read half past six, I rubbed my eyes and felt the night weighing down on me and the adrenaline wearing off. Mark and Bou told Star that everyone was awake and at the landing. Now all we needed was for the plane to land. But something started beeping on Night's computer.

"They're here. I've got them coming in on the Midwest border. Jessie, blow up the shot on screen thirteen." And with Night's words, we all saw it. The big blip on the screen that darkened the morning sky.

Everyone started cheering and shaking hands at another mission accomplished. But Star still spoke over the room, reminding everyone of the tasks still at hand. "Before you all go home to get some rest, I want your complete reports submitted to my box. I want one last scan of your divisions before your turn off your screens and log out. And lastly, great work people."

The cheers continued, even as people began to complete their work. Star and Night quickly gathered their work into their messenger bags, before gesturing for me to follow them. For the first time since we entered the room, the main door opened and we strutted out of it. Our pace seemed rushed as we headed outside and to an electric vehicle. Night drove the three of us to the landing strip where we drove past the trucks being loaded with medical supplies, past the men and women doing the loading, straight to the two girls, half dressed in Peacekeeper uniforms, half dressed in their own clothing. Star strolled off of the cart to congratulate the thieves.

But before Star could say a word, Elizabeth turned and said, "so where's my breakfast, Captain?"

"First of all, great work. Second, I'll make you dinner instead, because we all need to catch up on some sleep. And finally, stop calling me that, because I really don't want it to catch on." Star rolled her eyes, hoping the none of the men and women loading the trucks had heard the address.

Gale saddled up next to our crew, telling Star, "our drivers are nearly ready to take the supplies to the Hospital, Captain." He even winked at her, just to add more flames to her fire.

"I will skin you both alive if you don't stop that." Star threatened without any backing. "Just make sure everything is unloaded and then Night can move the plane to the bay for dismantling."

Gale left with a nod of confirmation and a kiss on Night's cheek before directing the drivers to the Hospital. Star asked Elizabeth and Jenna to turn in their reports no later than five o'clock tomorrow afternoon. They both left for a day of sleeping, with the promise that they'd be eating a well-deserved dinner at Star's house tonight. Then Star turned to me and said, "I know you are going to want to help, but you're still recovering. You were released from hospital care yesterday, not even a full twenty-four hours ago. Please go home and sleep. You can come over for dinner tonight, where I am sure we will be talking more about the final plan."

The weariness pushed down on my shoulders and eyelids. Without a fight, I shook Star's hand, and headed back to my bed, hoping that the mission to save Peeta went as smoothly as this.


	8. Katniss: Chapter 8 Words for Considerati

**A/N: The next two chapters are already in the works. I promise this story is going to get moving soon. Please comment, and tell me what you think.**

**Chapter 8**

**Words for Consideration**

**Katniss Point of View**

My mind seemed foggy, the only way it can after coming out of a sleep so deep you don't even dream, or least don't remember that you did. The birds were chirping and I felt a strange sense of calm settle over my body as the tension seemed to disappear. I could not for the life of me explain why. Nothing had changed. Peeta was still being held captive and was still being tortured every day. Cinna was still ill. And the rest of Panem was on the verge of complete and utter chaos.

Maybe Star sensed I needed my hope restored more than anyone. Maybe I did need to watch the supplies come off of the trucks last night. It probably helped. No it definitely did.

I stretched my arms and legs out, feeling my joints pop after hours and hours of perfect sleep. _I'll go visit Cinna today. Maybe he'll be awake._

"How's my girl on fire?"

His voice. That wasn't possible.

I jolted up in bed and searched the room, but not more than five milliseconds of searching passed before my eyes landed on Cinna. His complexion had returned to a deep mocha. The facial hair had been neatly trimmed to a more fitting style. The gashes disappeared completely, as if the pain had never been inflicted. Earrings studded his ear lobes again. His bruises and broken bones could not be found. He was wearing straightforward, black jeans and t-shirt. As much his style as it could be, as much as the medical clothing did not belong on him. But he stayed seated in a wheelchair as my eyes roamed over him, trying to see if he was really there.

"You are going to have to come hug me. I am not allowed to move much."

I jumped out of bed and leaped across the room in no more than two strides before my arms wrapped around him. He just laughed a bit in the small, demure way that only Cinna could pull off with elegance and style. "Careful, I am fresh out of surgery."

I backed away and to look into his eyes, to make sure he was really here, that I wasn't dreaming. His hands came up to rub away the tears I didn't know I had been shedding. "It's okay. I'm alive and well. More or less." He seemed to laugh again at his own joke, but I was still too thrilled to see him for me to let out much more than a breathy sigh. "Wheel me closer to the bed, so we can sit and talk."

Once I was comfortable facing him from my position on the bed, with my back against the wall, and Cinna was facing me, his feet resting on the bed, but his torso stayed in the wheelchair. "Now Haymitch filled me on what's been happening, but how have you been holding up?"

"When did you talk to Haymitch?" I still had a grudge against him for leaving Peeta.

"After I came out of surgery around noon, they stuck me in a recovery room with him. That's a beautiful black eye you gave him."

I smiled a little to myself. "He deserved it." I mumbled.

"I can't say that I completely agree. He was doing his best and you were the priority, baby girl." His hand had been wrapped around mine since I tackled him in the chair, and now he squeezed my hand in comfort.

"He left Peeta, and Peeta is just as important as I am in all of this."

He paused before saying anything, and shook his head. "You are the Girl on Fire. He is the boy who fell in love with the Girl on Fire before she was on fire. People love him, but they are inspired by you. He was doing what he had to during the games to keep you safe. You were doing what mattered to you morally, like helping Rue, and giving her the ceremony she deserved. You are the hero in all of this. Peeta comes close, but not close enough to out shine you."

I could see what Cinna said, but I did not want to see it. I guess, part of me was still trying to just survive the games; but the other part, the growing part desperately wanted to stick it to the Capitol, and President Snow.

Cinna could see the revenge in my eyes. I could taste the metallic flavor of revenge. "Why don't you just do your best to rescue him? To help the people of Panem, who so desperately need your help?"

I glanced towards the files on my desk. "I just don't see how that is going to help!" I said gesturing to the paperwork. "Shuffling papers around isn't going to do anything."

"Is Star asking you to do paperwork? I was under the impression she was having you train, and get your strength back. I thought she wanted to send you out into Panem by the end of the week."

I tilted my head and sat up a bit more straight. My gaze drifted to the stack of papers on my desk. I hadn't read about the tentative mission for Peeta. In fact, I completely dismissed all of the plans Star prepared, for no reason I could explain to myself or aloud. "Is that true?"

"When I woke up from surgery, Star was there asking how I felt. Once I told her that I felt fine, all things considered, she asked if I would come speak to you. She didn't want to broach the topic of field work with you yet. So, are you ready for field work?"

"I thought that I had to 'gain my strength back?'"

"Star said she was willing to send you into the field regardless of your physical strength. Everyone else can do the heavy lifting as far as she is concerned. Her concern lies with your mental and emotional state. 'Would she be able to see what's going on out there, without breaking down?' I believe those were her exact words. She isn't sure how you will react to bloodshed now that Peeta isn't around. I told her that being in the field would make you stronger. But I also didn't have the chance to watch this year's games."

Cinna was right. Seeing all of the Districts on the Victory Tour fortified my belief that standing up to the Capitol, to Snow, had been the right action to take. I hadn't felt that way last night seeing it on the screens, because none of them fixated on the people. If I had seen footage of any other District, seen how the people were holding up, I would have jumped into action.

But how was I feeling emotionally, mentally? Pretty well, all things considered. That overwhelming ache in the back of my mind dissipated slowly over the past day. I could rap my mind around the concept of District 13's existence, much more easily than I could yesterday morning. Cinna being alive and well—more or less—helped with that. Realizing that the burdening sensation on the back of my eyes lifted, I burned with the urge to discover more of District 13.

"Good. I feel good. It helps that you're here."

"Great, I'll tell Star."

"Can I tell her?"

A knowing smirk spread across his lips, but he had the look in his eyes that told me he wouldn't say what he was laughing about. "Of course. Are you going to the dinner tonight?"

"I was planning on it. What time is it?" I glanced at the watch strapped to my wrist. Just after two o'clock in the afternoon.

"Would you like to grab a bite to eat and stroll through the District? I still have no idea where anything is." He scratched his slight sideburns.

I laughed at the out of place gesture, and hopped off the bed. "That would be great. Would you wait five minutes for me to take a shower?"

"Five minutes? That's all you need? Sure, it'll take me that long to get down the stairs anyway."

"Wait, how are you getting down the stairs?"

"I'm only kidding. There's some gadget in this fancy wheelchair that helps me get down stairs. Night designed it. Brilliant girl." He shook his head at the brilliance as he left the room, pressing some button on the chair that wheeled him forward, effortlessly on his part.

The shower lasted for only five minutes. But it was one of the five most relaxing minutes of my life as I let my mind not go blank, but just let it not think of anything in particular but how good the hot water felt, scalding my skin just enough to make me feel clean. If I had grown accustomed to anything while I had been in the Capitol, it was the hot showers. Not scent that the shower made me afterwards, but definitely the slight burn from steaming water.

Cinna and I walked to Greasy Sae's place next door for some lunch. She smiled at me warmly, offering me my usual. She introduced herself to Cinna, and asked what soup he would like. He responded by saying her best. She winked at him before serving up the same soup she gave me. I stopped short when Greasy Sae's apprentice rung us up. I had no money.

Sae just smiled my way and said, "It's on the house, girl. You're the reason we're all still alive. Go enjoy your lunch."

I didn't know what to say about the "alive" comment. _I couldn't be the reason. In fact, Night, Star, and Gale were the reason._ "Thanks, Sae. I'll pay you back as soon as I can."

"Girl, if you even think about paying me back, I will kick you out. Take my gift, girl, please." She had her stern look on.

I nodded and smiled back her way. "But just this once."

"That's all I am asking."

Cinna and I sat at table just outside of the shop. The day seemed even brighter from outside, than my window made it appear. The birds chirping seemed a bit more melodic without the barrier of a wall. My eyes drifted to the people walking the streets. They all seemed happy too. More than that though, there was a joy to them I hadn't seen anywhere else. Not in the Capitol, not in the Districts. There was no taint to this happiness.

"Where's your mind at, Katniss?" Cinna spooned his first mouthful of soup, but eyed me with curiosity.

"Everyone looks happy here. It feels happier here. This is how life should be for everyone."

Cinna saw what I saw. A young couple walking down the street, their hands fused, their laughter melded, their love pure.

"I have never seen anything quite like it. Even love in the Capitol is wrong somehow. Twisted." Cinna's words resonated within me, confirming that I felt I needed to fight, for that.

We ate the rest of our lunch, not really commentating on anything of value.

Three kids, with their backpacks sitting on their shoulders, walked down the street. They all seemed to be the same height, and could not have been a day over ten years old. One stopped, but then grabbed the backpacks of his friends, pulling them to a stop. The three of them looked at me with awe before running across the street, trying to get to me first. _Do they know who I am?_

Cinna's smirk deepened when he saw the three boys approaching. The boys slowed, once they stepped foot on the sidewalk close to us, and then started pushing each other towards me, trying to encourage each other, but suddenly too timid to approach me.

One of them finally took the last few steps forward and said, "Are you Katniss?"

"Yes, I am. Who wants to know?" The words tumbled out of my mouth with warmth. The boys' excitement spread.

"I do," his friend elbowed him in the ribs. "I mean, we do. I'm Jake. These are two of my cousins Mark and Gaston. Star said you were here, but we didn't believe her until now."

"You know Star?"

"Yeah, she's our favorite aunt." Mark said, finally having the courage to speak.

"We ask her about work and she tells us stories about you. Did you really knock out Haymitch with one punch?" said Gaston, shocked by the idea that Haymitch could be taken down.

"Yeah, I did. Star told you that?"

"She tells us the best stories every time she comes to family dinners." Jake spoke up again.

"Yeah, but she doesn't come as much as we would like." Gaston said sheepishly.

"Why's that?"

"Because the Capitol is always doing the most at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, which is six o' clock our time, so she usually works during dinner." Mark added.

"Are you coming to dinner tonight?" Gaston said, no longer shy.

"At our house? Grandma would love it." Jake was on the verge of begging.

"Actually, I am going to Star's house for dinner tonight." They seemed so dejected at my words. "And I don't want to intrude on your grandmother. If she invites me, I will come for dinner."

"We'll go ask her." Mark said, already sprinting to their house. Apparently, it was only two houses away, because before Cinna could make any remark about what had just happened. An aged version of Star, with red hair substituted for Star's brunette, walked out of the house next to mine. She was surrounded by a swarm of at least seven kids, but I couldn't really count them all.

She approached me with a warming smile, and a bit of laughter hidden in her eyes. She extended her hand, and I accepted it, shaking in return. "I'm Daphne Sparrow. It would appear that my grandchildren want me to invite you to dinner."

All of the kids silently bobbed their heads, looking to me for my response. "I would be honored, Mrs. Sparrow."

"Please, call me Daphne. May I call you Katniss?"

I laughed a bit. "I've never gone by anything else."

"Except for the Girl on Fire." A little girl said, hiding behind her grandmother's right leg.

Cinna couldn't hold his laughter in any longer. "I do believe that was my fault. Sorry, Katniss." He wasn't sorry at all. All of the kids turned to him and said in some form of disjointed unison, "You're Cinna?"

He nodded and smiled their way. They all started asking him questions. Their grandmother said, "Kids, leave these two to the rest of their lunch. I was just making cinnamon rolls, who wants to help?" All of them immediately volunteered.

"It's been a pleasure to meet you, Katniss. And you too, Cinna." Daphne nodded, in a minute fashion that resembled a curtsy, before leading her swarm of grandchildren back to her kitchen.

"I told you that you gave people hope. These kids don't even live in Panem, and you have given them something to hope for." Cinna sipped the last of his iced tea, giving me a look with a raised eyebrow.

I threw my hands up in surrender. "I see your point. Do you still want to walk around?"

"Sure, if you don't mind showing me around town."

We traveled up and down the streets, as I pointed out the stores I remembered and we tried to guess at the ones I couldn't. There were signs posted on each building, but some of the stores belonged to people from District 12, and those were the stores I remembered best.

Occasionally, someone would come up to introduce themselves, to meet me and Cinna. They recognized the both of us and either complemented him on his designs or me on my bravery. Their admiration differed from the interest of the people in the Capitol, and stuck closer to the people in the Districts, who were overjoyed to have something more than hope.

Our tour of the town ended at the end of Springs Street, in front of HQ. We both looked at HQ, at the people coming and going, wondering what was next.

I looked at my watch and noticed that is was nearly six o'clock. "Are you coming to dinner at Star's place?"

"I am, but just so you know. So is Haymitch."

I groaned a little bit, before reasserting myself. If we were going to be in the same room on a regular basis, I would tolerate him. But nothing more. I wheeled Cinna to Star's house in silence. He knew I was preparing myself for a possible confrontation with Haymitch, but I didn't.

We rang the doorbell, and before it could finish the ding, Elizabeth opened the door. "Katniss, Cinna, it's nice to see you. Come on in." Cinna and I made our way through the entry hall, as Elizabeth said, "The Captain's busy beating Gale in an arm wrestling match."

I smiled. "I thought she said not to call her Captain."

"She did, but I never listen, and that's what they're playing for. If she wins Gale can't call her Captain, but if he does win, he won't ever stop."

Cinna threw me a look with a raised eyebrow, wondering who the Captain was. "Elizabeth has taken to calling Star, Captain. It irritates her to no end."

"It has a nice ring to it. Captain. She should keep it." Cinna remarked, rubbing a hand over his chin.

"Our Captain has a problem with authoritative titles. I tried calling her Commander last year, but I lost in a combat match with her, so I had to come up with something new. I rather like this title more."

"Then let's see if we can go help Gale win this arm wrestle." Cinna winked towards Elizabeth, wheeling himself into Star's living room. Gale was in fact loosing, but Cinna hollered, "Peacekeeper!" But Star didn't even flinch.

"Nice try, Cinna. I heard you three." Star's gaze remained lined up with Gale's, who was starting to sweat.

"Oh, Star, that reminds me. Your mother invited me to dinner at your house tomorrow night. That's okay right?"

Now that made Star move. She completely abandoned the game and turned her head to me. "What happened?" She asked, her voice laced with incredulity.

"Cinna and I ran into Gaston, Jake, and Mark at lunch today."

"More like they ran to us." Cinna inserted, most accurately.

"And then they brought your mother out to invite us to dinner. I didn't realize you had such a big family."

"My nieces and nephews are too impatient. I told them I would invite you both to dinner, after you had a chance to settle down. But yes, you can't take five steps in this town without running into a Sparrow." Her words were laced with love and admiration for her family. Even her eyes held the laughter of an inside joke.

"I hope you don't mind?" Cinna asked, speaking what I was also thinking.

"Not at all. Like I said, I was going to invite you two anyways. Are you ready to handle all of my family?" She raised her eyebrow, and tried to tell me, _you don't know what you're getting into._

"How big is your family?"

"Well, I have three brothers, three sisters, and they're all married. They all have a few kids too. With more on the way." Everyone in the room whistled. "Why are you guys surprised? You've met my family." Star said, looking at Gale, Night, Elizabeth, Jenna and Haymitch.

"I always kind of forget a few of them." Jenna shrugged her shoulders as if it weren't her fault.

"Yeah, Captain, it's not our fault your family is like a third of our population." Gale joked, using his full privileges.

"First, you got lucky. Second, my family is not a third of the population. And it will be an even smaller proportion in a few weeks." Sparrow started to stand, wiping herself off, as if she could wipe off her new nickname.

"What's happening in a few weeks?" Haymitch asked Star with something sounding like respect, and sobriety.

"The Switch Out." Star looked towards Night, giving a slight nod before heading to the kitchen, and asking everyone else to follow. Before we were allowed in the room, Night whipped out a gadget from her bag and scanned the room.

"We're all clear." Night gave the thumbs up and we walked in.

"What was that for?" Haymitch asked again, with respect.

"To check for recording devices. Can't have anyone spoiling our plans." Night smiled, slipping the device back into her bag.

"Let's eat." Star said, slipping serving spoons into all of the dishes. We served ourselves and sat around her rather large, simplistic if not rustic, wood table.

"So what's the Switch Out?" Haymitch asked, the first to speak after we were all seated.

"It's exactly what it sounds like. Our plan to switch out people from all of the districts with people from our district. We are mainly transferring out children and the ill. Everyone will be offered sanctuary with us, but we do need some people to stay, so the Capitol doesn't immediately catch on to us. Our key informants already in the districts have been quietly asking who would be willing to stay. We don't have numbers yet, but I should have them by tonight of exactly how many people are willing to stay. One informant tried telling me he couldn't get people to leave, that they wanted to stay and fight. The bravery of some people astounds me sometimes."

"Is it really bravery, or anger and a need for vengeance?" Haymitch remarked cynically, louder than I preferred and—as it would appear—louder than Star preferred. She gave him a look that could kill, and would have if he cared about social, or even personal, decency.

"Don't be so pessimistic." Gale said, just as loudly, knowing how to deal with the drunk, after living with him for a few weeks.

"Like you're not out for blood?" Haymitch threw back.

"No, not anymore. Not when my family is safe." Gale sounded sincere, more or less. I would have to say he was, but in the past year, I hadn't spent much time with him.

"You're trying to tell me that you don't want to kill Snow for vengeance for your father?" Haymitch asked, honestly, sharing something I had not known, and apparently no one else in the room except for Star and Night. It showed on their faces that they knew, both, what really happened to his father and why Gale considered vengeance to be part of his plans.

In all honesty, I wondered when Haymitch had learned so much of Gale's past. Maybe I was out for longer than I thought. But Haymitch needed to be… handled. "Shut up, Haymitch. Just because you don't have anyone to care for doesn't mean you can pick on the people who do." I didn't know about his past, not much of it anyways, but clearly he didn't have someone in his life, or he would be fighting for them, rather than drinking himself into a coma on a daily basis.

"Everyone calm down. We all have our own motives, but at the end of the day, if we complete what we set out to do—without bloodshed on _both _sides—all the better." Star asserted, silencing us all, except for Haymitch of course.

"Of course motives matter. If they didn't, you would have a much smaller rebellion."

"Don't test me Haymitch. You've said your piece, let everyone else decide who or what they're fighting for. My face might be younger than yours, but my mind and heart aren't. I decided long ago why I was fighting this fight, and so have you, but allow everyone else the opportunity to become as much of a cynic as you are, on their own time." Star smirked and was ready to move on with the conversation, but something was eating away at Gale.

"You said, 'without bloodshed.' Does that mean you're not planning to kill Snow?"

"No, I believe, and at this point, the rest of the council agrees, that there should be some semblance of democracy. He will go on trial, with a jury, judge, and lawyers, who will treat his case as we would any other, and yet, he can be held accountable for every death that has happened during the games while he has been president. He'll probably receive the death penalty, just out of the crimes he's committed, but just like everyone else, he will go on trial." Her tone brokered no argument, no matter how heavily I wanted to object.

"Is this not an occasion to break the rules? We're at war." Gale spoke, rather close to screaming, and the vengeance he tried to seek clearly shown in his eyes, if not his tone.

"I ask you this, Gale. Is a country still that, if it's built on principles it never intended on following?" Star didn't even flinch as she sent that conundrum his way.

The room hung with dust and silence as the thoughts echoed from wall to wall.

Star continued, "And just so everyone acknowledges this now, in Snow's eyes, we're rebelling, not starting war."

"Who cares about Snow?" Cinna spoke up, having his own truck load of revenge ready for Snow, and the fresh wounds to justify that revenge.

"Snow isn't the only one who may feel this way. A decent share of citizens in the Capitol and other districts may feel the way Snow does about our 'acting out.' And frankly, I don't care about their opinions, especially Snow's. But I _do _care for how we build this new nation. I will _not_ have it built for the goal of vengeance, but the aim of ending all of this suffering. We have to treat Snow how we wish we could have been treated after the initial rebellion, which no one alive today has first account knowledge. We would have wished to have been treated with fairness and an open-mind, so we must do the same. Otherwise this will be a never-ending cycle." Only now did I realize, Star's tone allowed room for argument, just that her reasoning was too sound and her words to self-assured to be hastily argued with.

We all let the words settle in our minds, and would have spent hours pondering them, except Star said, "Now, no more politics. Our food's getting cold."

Everyone started eating spoonfuls of whatever was on their plate, before I could return the discussion back to the original topic, "Who is participating in the Switch Out?"

Star and Night smiled to each other, before Night responded, "You haven't had the chance to read through many of the files, but we were hoping you would be a large participant, out in the field. The people staying need to be reminded that there is something to fight for and you tend to provide a certain amount of… hope to that affect."

Star added, "I, along with most of our elite team, will be heading out into the field, in chunks for safety reasons of course. It's all in the files. But you will be an active participant in much of what we do, Katniss. The only reason I am hesitant to send you out in the field sooner, is mainly for the sole reason that you don't have enough strength for sustained combat."

"Don't worry, Captain. She'll be pinning you to the floor in a week if we can train her, properly." Elizabeth added, having a dark glint in her eyes that made me fear her work-out routine.

We all laughed at Star's expense, and she let it happen. But the conversation continued, discussing some details to the Switch Out, and when the topic strayed, Star reminded that the plan was in the files. She insisted everyone continue to read over the files and stay prepared, before digging into the lasagna, letting the rest of night be hours of enjoyment, for the small (or rather large) victory that had happened just earlier that day.


	9. Peeta: Chapter 9 Last

**Chapter 9**

**Last**

**Peeta Point of View**

"How did they do it?"

"I don't know." I cried just before the whip bit into my back.

"Who stole the ship?"

"What ship?" I sobbed into my shoulder. I knew nothing, but I wasn't sure if not knowing kept me alive or not. Regardless, the leather bit into the already open wounds.

"What do they plan to do with it?"

"Do with what?"

Snap.

"Where are they hiding?"

"Who?"

Snap.

"Where do they get their intel?"

"What intel?"

Snap.

"What are their plans?"

"Whose?"

"The rebellion's!" He roared, but this time the whip snapped before I could reply. He just kept going, though, not pausing the lashing to answer questions. I tried to keep awake, to not pass out from exhaustion. But only counting could help. Forty. Forty-one. Forty-two. Forty three…. I lost track at seventy. But he stopped soon after.

"If you are harboring secrets, I'll find them."

Just as the guards came to untie me, he told them to stop. "Keep him up until his wounds stop bleeding. We don't want his blood to drip in the hallway, on the way back to his cell."

He slammed the door before leaving. The echo reverberated so loudly, I could feel it in the chains. Buzzcut was angrier today. Normally, the torture was business, for him. He kept the lashings pretty professional, but not today. He lost it. And in his break, I caught one. This room, it wasn't mine, and I now knew much more than before.

A rebellion was alive and well. I had always guessed there was one; I mean Haymitch was smart, but not smart enough to lead a revolt against the Capitol, not on his own, anyways. So they had taken a ship, one of those fast, vast hovercrafts. Now, who were they? Where did they take it? What do they plan to do with it?

A small part of me wanted them to rescue me. The larger part wanted them to save everyone else in Panem, the helpless children, the distraught parents, and the elderly who had seen too much of the fighting to last much longer. They needed to be saved. I could last. I would last.

_Come for me last. I can wait._


	10. Katniss: Chapter 10 Our Strength

**Chapter 10**

**Our Strength**

**Katniss Point of View**

I woke up the next morning, and went straight to my desk. I sorted through the computer files: reports, videos, maps, layouts. I looked into the back files on my father. He really had reported to Star for years. In fact, he contacted Star's father the day I was born. Eventually all of the work transferred from father to daughter, but my dad's file transferred first. They had reported to each other back and forth for years. In fact, the deal was for Prim and me to be transferred out of District 12 to 13, but the explosion happened and all contact ceased. The report—Star's report—said that it was impossible to retrieve Prim and me, without having contact with my dad. Night Hawk wasn't around yet; otherwise, Star would have contacted us, and taken us out of there. By the time Star could come and rescue us, the reaping had happened and I was already in the Games.

From there, Star just paid attention and helped when she could, trying to find the right moment to intervene. She could hardly extract me from District 12 without it going unnoticed. Even any assistance would be ended before it began. So Star bade her time, and used my being in the games, as distraction enough for Snow, to pick up more and more refugees escaping from the districts.

I needed to move beyond the personal files, otherwise I would keep thinking of what could have been, instead of working to change the future. I buried myself in the files they had of Peeta, of the Capitol, of Snow. There were only about two hours of video footage on Peeta, but a note in the file read that these were the only ones released for all of Panem to watch. There would likely be many more videos of him being tortured; District 13 just couldn't access them, yet.

Star and Night, with the help of Gale, had already drawn up a fairly detailed plan to rescue Peeta. I made notes where I could, knowing what would work, and what wouldn't. Using the sewer system seemed like a risk. There would most likely not be surveillance cameras, but who knew what kind of toxic dump they had down there. I had overheard Flavius and Octavia talking about it once, during my prep work for the first games. Apparently a distant cousin of Octavia had fallen into an open sink hole, and hadn't ever come out. At the time, I just dismissed the talk, thinking of it as Capitol gossip, but people don't just disappear, not even from the Capitol, without turning up somehow. I searched the main system, to see if anyone had in fact disappeared into the sewer system. On first glance of the Capitol reports on record, at least five people had fallen into open sewer holes, and their bodies could not be found. Using the sewer system as a way into the buildings was out of the question.

My fingers flicked over more keys, determining if there was an alternative. Surely we couldn't walk in the front door, and the roof had the protective shield. For now, I left that part of the mission as a question to be answered another time. As for keeping a large part of the Capitol security distracted, we would need something explosive in the opposite direction from our target. From the best of my knowledge, the Capitol wasn't built to handle extensive fires. I made a note and moved on.

My neck started to ache and my eyes burned from staring at the computer screen for so long. I looked at my watch and realized it was time for training. On my way to Headquarters, I ran into Finnick, nearly literally, as he came running out of the Bakery with a sugar cookie in each hand.

"Hey, Sugar." He wrapped his arms around me, trapping me in warmth. His arms were comfortable, reminding me that I had a friend—one who had been through it all, just as I had—there to help me if I needed it. "Are you heading to HQ?"

I nodded, smiling at the sugar covering his face. "Want to walk together?"

We both started on a strong walking pace to headquarters. He finished his cookies, before nudging me in the ribs, asking, "What are you heading there for?"

"Training and then an afternoon meeting. What about you?"

"Training and a meeting, probably the same one. Is it ultra-top secret?" He wiggled his eyebrows in an expression I didn't even want to decode.

A laugh escaped my lips, but I wasn't sure if it was fake or not. "Yeah, according the files I have been reading over, it's as top secret as you can get. But I am positive Star will throw something else my way that is even more secretive."

His laugh sounded real, whether it was or not, I couldn't tell. "Star tends to do that. Well, here we are. Ready to get whipped in training?"

"I don't know, Finnick. You are getting old, I am not sure you have what it takes anymore." And so the competition began.

Hours later, I had pinned him to the mat fifteen out of twenty times. But we were both grinning like fools who had been able to escape from our pasts, if even for only a couple hours. We walked to the room where the meeting was being held. We arrived right on time, and took our designated seats, waving to Night and Gale. Star rushed in the room, and that seemed to act as a signal for everyone to take their seats.

Discussion began about the Switch Out, as we fine-tuned the details: which districts were first, how many people were leaving the districts, how many people were taking their place from District 13, and how many more vehicles we could build for transportation in the meantime. When it was discussed which districts would be first, and which would be last, District 4 was lowered to the bottom. Finnick banged his fists on the table, as he roared at Star, demanding something different.

"You promised we would get her family out. Don't go back on your word, Star. Don't make me break my promise to her. Don't you dare."

"They are on the other side of the continent, Finnick. If we start with them, we won't be able to save anyone else. Give me an alternative. I want to save them, but I have to think of everyone. Give me an alternative."

He paused, racking his brain, looking down at the table, and everyone else seemed to hold their breath, waiting for his response. When he finally spoke, the room still seemed to be on edge, waiting for Star's reaction to whatever he solution he could create.

"Now that we have the Capitol's hovercraft, can't we make more? Or at least use the technology to make our planes faster?"

Our heads whipped to Star, and yet her face was calm in contemplation, as she looked down at her files. When her face lifted, her eyes seemed to sparkle with excitement. "Night, is it possible? If I sent you a team of workers, could you make enough hovercrafts to send three to two districts at a time?"

Night looked at her notes, writing furiously over the pages, making calculations. But a smile ghosted over her lips, and she said, "I could make enough hovercrafts to send four to three districts at a time, if you give me a hundred workers. And we can outfit them to carry four hundred people at a time."

Everyone seemed to let a breath fall from their lips before doing a little bit of a cheer. With this news, we reordered the list, hitting the districts that were farthest away first, District 4 being the top of that list.

"Night, you'll have those hundred people to you at eight in the morning, tomorrow—" Star looked down at her pager. "You guys, we have a call coming in from one of my best sources, and they have some serious information for us, so let's take a listen."

Night's fingers brushed over the keyboard, and a voice drifted into the room. "We need to enact the Switch Out soon. The Capitol is openly punishing their rebellious citizens more and more every day," said the unnamed source. The voice sounded encrypted, fake almost, definitely computer generated.

"I don't want to commence the Switch Out until we have enough houses and beds for at least half of the people to sleep in," Star addressed the voice. She thanked him for the information he sent earlier that day, and let him go. Turning to the head of the construction crew, she asked "how are the buildings coming along?"

"Even with the extra hands we now have, we can only build houses so quickly, while keeping within safety codes. As of now, there are enough houses for a quarter of the new people. With having everyone working extra hours, we won't have the other quarter for two more weeks."

"You know that we can't wait that long. Try and push them to work harder, but take everyone from every other construction crew and transfer them to house building," Star directed, reluctantly. Even if all of the houses were built, extensions of every other store and office needed to be made for the influx of new refugees. Star was struggling to make that decision, but she would rather have people temporarily uncomfortable here, rather than having them tortured out there.

Night spoke up, seeming to have a game changer ready for the table. "Actually, Beetee and I have discovered something, rather accidentally, that could stand as temporary housing until more furnished houses can be built."

"Speak clearly and quickly, Night." Haymitch demanded, not having had any fortifying alcohol today. I smirked to myself. Gale was weaning him off of the liquor.

Night ignored his gruff tone and continued. "These temporary buildings would be concrete domes of a sort that would only require water, an air pump, and a truck for assembly. The process of erecting each dome would require three workers and five hours of manual labor, but the labor itself is not tasking, not even remotely. Then the cement would need to dry overnight, but then it's ready to use. It's strong enough to stand on and the material composition allows for the interior temperature to remain moderate."

Star needed no moment for contemplation before she began firing away questions. "How many of these dome kits, if you will, do you already have prepared?"

"Two hundred, but we would have one hundred more prepared by the end of the day if I had three people to assist me."

"Done. They'll be in your lab in an hour. How large are these domes?"

"Fifty square meters, more or less. A family of five could fit comfortably."

"Perfect. David, change of plans. Send all of your guys working on the buildings to these temporary living spaces. I want all three hundred houses finished in two days. Keep the housing crew going, and then once these temporary places are set up, I want the temp housing crew back on the building expansions.

"As of now, we have complete houses for two hundred families, and temporary homes for three hundred more by the end of the week. We have enough hospital beds for one thousand ill or injured. By the end of the week, we will have 3,500 people here, 1,500 of which will be living in the dome housing. By the end of this month, we will have a total of 5,000 people living in their own homes." Star wrote down all of those statistics in her own files before closing them and saying, "great work people. Anything else not on the agenda that you want to bring to the table for discussion?"

Star looked around the room, but no one spoke up. One person seemed to shift though, uncomfortable with what they were about to say. "You have something to add, Mark?"

Even with Star's prompting, he seemed to struggle with beginning, needing a fortifying breath before saying, "some people around town have approached me with the idea of having one last games—"

Before he could finish, Star and Night cut him off with an assertive, "No." But Star continued this. "How many people have approached you, Mark? Five, twenty? How many?"

"About fifteen."

"That's fifteen too many." Star banged the mahogany table, letting go an expletive, and not daring to keep it under her breath. "Damn. What are we working for if the cycle is just going to start again?" She paused, breathing for a sense of calm that wouldn't come. "Meeting tonight. On the steps of HQ, eight o'clock. I want every single citizen in attendance. Children too. No exceptions. Night, I want the standard equipment set up." Turning to the rest of the room, Star bluntly said, "Meeting adjourned," before sweeping out of the room in a bout of fury.

I left the room, talking with Finnick about what had happened. He said he'd never seen her so angry before. Frankly, neither had I, but I had only been conscious for a few days.

We headed back to our own houses and waited for whatever Star had planned for tonight.

"How many people here can tell me the number of lives that have been lost because of the Hunger Games? Anyone want to guess?"

No one raised their hands. "If we are just counting tributes, one thousand seven hundred and eighteen. If we are counting lives that have been sacrificed for interfering with the games, five thousand six hundred and ninety-seven."

She paused, closing her eyes, taking a breath, not for dramatic effect, rather because she needed a moment. "Imagine your family and friends here in District 13. Now picture a third of them being dead. Over a third of our population would equate to the number of people that have sacrificed their lives to end the Hunger Games." She ran to one side of the stage, and threw her arm up, creating an imaginary line over the audience. "Everyone from where I am standing, to your left, would all be dead. Not just the burly men, not just the resilient women, but the innocent children certainly haven't been exempt."

She slowly walked back to the center of the platform. She scanned the audience, seeing their brains trying to process so much carnage. "Now, keep in mind, these are just the people that have openly sacrificed their lives. The people I have been able to record as being brave and true enough to sacrifice their lives, to end the games.

"If you want to count how many people have died fighting to end the suffering of people in the districts, I wouldn't even be able to give you a number. The people who have given their lives to prevent others' suffering. The people who will remain unnoticed, forgotten if we fail. If I had to guess, and this is a low estimate I'm sure, it would be somewhere around one-hundred thousand. And that's just a number people. A number. But these were people, with lives, with family and friends. Do you want to know their names? Cause I could tell you every single name of the tributes—kids—who have had to give their lives for their districts. I could tell you every name of every person of the five-thousand, six hundred and ninety-seven people who tried to end the games. Excuse me, not trying to end them, just for interfering. Just for trying to make it easier for the kids who were thrown into a grown-up world, with adult politics, years before they were ready, but you know what the worst part is?

"The worst part is those tributes, those kids had no choice. Those kids, all one-thousand seven-hundred and eighteen of them, were paying for crimes they did not commit. They paid with their lives for a crime which they had no knowledge of, let alone participated in."

Star paused again. "Those pictures that have flickered across the screens all night, none of the people in those pictures look familiar do they?"

Everyone shook their heads in the negative, absolutely everyone. But one kid raised her hand and yelled as loud as five-year-old respectively could, "I knew one of them."

For the first time all night, Star smiled and waved the girl to come on to the platform. The girl was decked out in a magenta, polka-dot dress, with her hair tied up in pig tails.

Star crouched down, so their eyes were at the same level, they stood as equals. Star held the microphone up to the girl, but first asked her, "Can you tell me your name, and whom you recognized?"

The girl defiantly—though I am not sure to whom the defiance was directed—said, "My name is Mackenzie, and I saw a picture of my uncle. He tried to stop the peacekeepers from taking my cousin to fight in the Hunger Games for District 7. The peacekeepers beat him so badly, and he died a month later, right after my cousin died in the games."

Star smiled to Mackenzie, stood up, but left her arm wrapped around the girl with enough gumption to fill a room, comforting her on the bright stage. Star spoke this time, with more reverence then I could ever reimagine, "Mackenzie is brave for coming on stage, and even braver for having come all of the way to District 13. But I ask you to remember, remember the people some of you might have lost, as Mackenzie has done. Now let me ask again, raise your hand if you recognized someone." Hands slowly started to rise, but still not very many.

"You all should have your hands raised, because those were pictures of your relatives, tributes, parents, grandparents, siblings, who sacrificed themselves for the games. Those were people from every district, including the Capitol, who have given their lives to get us to where we are now. You should all be lucky that we have made it this far without President Snow, or one or his predecessors, wiping us out. And yet, these people, who gave their lives for you, all of you, can't even remember their faces when you see them."

She took a deep fortifying breath, before letting Mackenzie head back into the audience. "What you're asking, for one more games, for one last Hunger Games with Capitol children fighting, instead of your children, will be more of the same massacre we have seen for the past seventy-five years. Your children, just like theirs, would be paying for a crime they didn't commit. You are asking the innocent to pay a price that you can't even begin to comprehend."

"Now excuse me for having everyone here, when I know there is only a small group of people who believe that having another Hunger Games would in some way vindicate all the horrors that keep piling one on top of the other, but frankly any group is a group too large. This notion of another games needs to end, now. Frankly though, I understand why you would want another games, but I can't allow this to continue.

"My grandfather did not shelter so many from the Capitol, with the intent of letting the games continue. I promised him, on his death bed, that I would sacrifice my life before allowing another set of games to begin. And I will fight you all before letting another innocent child lay down their life, but I am only one person, so instead, I will conserve my energy and just let you do as you will.

"In essence, if you want there to be a Hunger Games for the children of the Capitol, go ahead, but I won't protect you. In fact, I'll kick you out of District 13 before you can say tribute. I will not have our country built on the foundation of the blood of the innocent. I will not search you out, or hunt you down, but I will not be forgiving the next time I hear rumors of continuing the games. I say this for the last time: I will not house and protect people willing to hurt children. If you're one of those people and have no immediately plans to change that attitude, I suggest you pack your belongs now and leave."

No one moved. No one even dare let a breath stray from their lips. Star seemed to search the audience, searching the eyes of anyone who might want to leave. No one did.

"Now, I had wanted this week to be one of celebration. Some very special events have taken place, which bring us one step closer to living free lives. However, if any of you do still harbor anger towards President Snow or the existence of the Hunger Games, I don't blame you. All I ask is that you redirect your want for revenge into an aim to begin anew."

She paused, seeming to contemplate if her next move would be the right one. She seemed to shake her head, dismissing one notion, and heading for another. "I hate to share this information with you all, especially knowing there are some people here that would want differently; but, I need you all to hope for something more. We will soon be having quite a few refugees joining us here in District 13. More than a few. I can't provide any more details than that, but I need your help to help you. I can't do this alone, no matter how hard I could try. So in the next few weeks, you all will be asked to work harder than ever before. It is for the safety of you, of your family, of your kids, your nieces and nephews, and everyone else in Panem.

"So in these next few weeks, excuse me, in these next few years, I ask that you all remember those words we put on our Headquarters. I ask that you remember them and what they mean. Dum Spiro Spero. While I breathe, I hope. Thank you all for listening. Just know I am here to listen to you too. If you need someone to talk to, I am here to help shoulder your burden. My door is always open, at home and at HQ. None of us have to do this alone. Thank you, and have a good night."

She walked off the stage and was bombarded by people, thanking her for reminding them of themselves, and the strength they use to have. She stayed there for hours, accepting handshakes and hugs, providing a shoulder and lending an ear. Somewhere during the night, I found my strength again.

* * *

**Author's Note:** If you're wondering what the temporary houses are, I found this video on youtube that inspired this idea. If the link doesn't work, search concrete tent. It's a National Geographic video, and it's a pretty neat invention. I tried to use as much accurate information as possible for those. Please comment and let me know what you think. And if there are any view points you would like to read, please tell me. I am open to ideas.

watch?v=Vb1pdvvoVoQ


	11. Katniss: Chapter 11 Guess Who's Coming

**Chapter 11**

**Guess Who's Coming to Dinner**

**Katniss Point of View**

Star switched us from training to helping build the concrete houses. The job required a bit of endurance, but Finnick and I managed to practice sparring while we waited. She also had us train with our new weapons. I practiced with my new bow and Finnick seemed to love his remodeled trident. I avoided Haymitch like an illness, not wanting to land him in the hospital again, while simultaneously wanting to send him to the morgue. According to the plans laid out for Peeta's rescue mission, Haymitch would be sacrificing himself. I could commend him on his bravery for that, but certainly never to his face.

I would have thought I would see Jenna and Elizabeth constructing the houses with us, but Star said they were up to their thieving ways again, and just laughed. I didn't get any more information than that, and didn't bother to ask. Night, however, told me that the pair had gone to collect the supplies for the extra ships. Stealing another hovercraft would be too obvious to Snow, but just random supplies might go unnoticed, or even unreported by the Peacekeepers, for fear that they would be punished.

And yet, the newspaper produced in District 13, called _The Liberator_, reported the missions of Elizabeth and Jenna, after the fact of course. As I went through the archives, I realized that this documentation of their effort—everyone on Star's team—was doing more damage than anyone realized, probably even Snow. The family, who printed the newspaper, and the books for their store, had included in this week's edition an in-depth article about Star's speech, including the speech in its entirety. A separate article questioned _"what could be next on Starry Sparrow's agenda?" _I wondered the same, and then realized I knew exactly—more or less—what she had planned.

In fact, she wanted me to coordinate large chunks of the operation, but no one but Star, Night, and I knew exactly what the whole plan entailed. Everyone else only knew their part, for security's sake. Again, though I didn't have Star's "Steps to Overthrow President Snow," I did know what she had planned for the final event. I was orchestrating it. And yet, her plans to get us all to that point remained a mystery to me.

My theory was only proved further when the eldest son, who worked to write most of the articles for _The Liberator_, stopped by my house one afternoon. He had that warm smile as he asked for an interview, introducing himself as Nathaniel, but asked me to call him Nate.

"What's the interview about, exactly?"

He rubbed the back of his head, messing up his hair a bit. "I take it Star didn't tell you." I shook my head in confirmation. "She wanted me to interview you, so all of District 13 could understand you better, not the person the Capitol portrays you as. Sort of a behind the games look at our nation's hero."

"I'm hardly a hero. I just did what I had to do to survive."

"You and I both know that's not true. Your defiance to the Gamemakers and Snow was more than just surviving; it was outright rebellion, even if you were just trying to find a way for both you and Peeta to live. But that's the point of this interview, to understand you and your motives, to announce your survival, to bolster all of Panem into having hope again."

"What do you mean all of Panem? I thought that this newspaper was only published in District 13."

He did that thing again, where he rubbed his neck and struggled to search for a way to word his thoughts properly, the thoughts I should have already been made aware of by Star. "She wants to send the publication to all of Panem. How she plans to do that is a mystery to me, but my family is supposed to have enough editions of this newspaper to give enough copies to every person in Panem, Capitol citizens included."

I could see Star's motive in wanting to send all of this to Panem, to give every citizen an eye into how much they had been deceived by the games, and how much they had been deceived by the Capitol. The fact was that there had been no deception; everyone knew consciously that the games had always been a farce, a way to keep the citizens living in the Districts complacent. But no one wanted to recognize this horror as being something unjust, when no foreseeable solution could be presented. Now that an end to the games was possible, all of the citizens of Panem could stand in revolt against the games, against their forced labor, against their own starvation. I could hear Star and Cinna's voices in my head, encouraging me to do this interview, for the people of Panem; but in the same breath they would be encouraging me to do it for myself, to better understand why I had been deemed too integral to this entire process to be allowed to hide in the shadows.

"I'll do it. On one condition, I reserve the right to see this interview before it is published."

Nate's face light up, as if I had just handed him a basket of gold, and then I realized why. Nothing like this had ever happened before, and he had an interview with the battle's general.

We moved into the living room, sat ourselves comfortably, and Nate brought out a tape recorder. He assured me that it would be for replicating the interview on paper, and nothing more.

He began with the basics. "What do you think of our place in District 13? Do you like it?"

"I do actually. I take comfort in knowing my sister and mother are safe here. But as for what I think of District 13, I am still not sure. You could say it was a bit of a shock, that's for sure."

He laughed a bit, realizing the differences between the two of us, truly. Where he had lived here his entire life, I had only lived here a handful of days. "I guess that's a bit of a loaded question on my part. Instead, what do you think about the style of life here? And this government of sorts that we have established?"

"I couldn't imagine a better way of living. My people in District 12 had been working so hard, with nothing to show for it except for hungry children. Now, they are thriving, happy, healthy, and working in jobs they love. The houses here are far more than what we had in District 12, at least in The Seam."

"I'm sorry, what is The Seam?"

"It was the part of District 12 that I lived in. There were parts of town that had nicer, stronger buildings, much closer to the center of town, where the Bakery stood, where all of these different businesses could afford to do business in a real building. But my family lived like most of District 12 in these homes, well I guess you might call them shacks. We didn't have carpeting or wall paper, or even paint on the walls. We had hard wood floors, though. But what I always thought of wood flooring was strips of wood put together, rather than panels of finished wood carefully covering the floors. It was the bare bones. But then, it was home. And I didn't know the extent of how drastically life differed between my family and the people of the Capitol. Or rather I was focused on staying alive, feeding my family. After seeing the Capitol, it was hard to stomach their extravagance. We would be starving in District 12, but they were inducing vomiting so they could taste all the food there was to be offered. We just wanted to eat, and they wanted to live beyond their bodies' means."

Nate had to take stock for a minute, carefully processing what I had just described. Until he glanced back at his note pad, remembering the second question he had asked. "And our small government, what do you think of that?"

"Honestly, I think it's as close to perfect as is physically possible, that everyone is working so carefully not to make the same mistakes we have made in the past. To ensure that the way of life we have been living in Panem, doesn't happen again."

He glanced down again, remembering his questions. "So you must think it odd? Seeing Capitol citizens taking refuge here in District 13 just like so many others."

"Actually, what's strange is how I don't find it odd. For a lot of people, the way of living in the Capitol is stifling, artificial. No matter how much they all would like to pretend, none of them are living either."

"Did you believe in the existence of District 13? Before seeing it for yourself?"

"I didn't know, per say, about District 13 still existing, before waking up in the hospital room. But I questioned it once, or at least I questioned the possibility of something being out here, when I told Peeta…" My voice trailed off, I could barely say his name. Not like this.

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him," I could work with him, just not his name, "about a time, when Gale and I were hunting, beyond the borders of District 12, and we saw these two kids, an older girl and a younger boy, siblings, running. The girl was lifted into the air by a net from a hovercraft that appeared out of nowhere, and the boy had been killed by a spear, but the hovercraft took them both. The Forrest settled, as if it had never happened. But I saw the girl, when Peeta and I were getting ready for the games."

"What had happened to her?"

"She became an Avox, and had her tongue cut out. She was serving us in the Capitol and I said I recognized her, but then Peeta helped me lie to everyone else at the table, saying I mistook her for a girl in our class. He wanted to know what happened. Once I told him about her, we wondered where they were heading, when they had been caught. Peeta believed in you guys, long before I did. He hasn't even been here, or been told about all of this, and he still probably believes it more than I do now." I paused, unsure of how I should continue.

"What happened to that Avox girl? After you saw her?"

"I don't know. I wish I did. For all I know she is still a servant in the Capitol. But the her reason for leaving, I understand perfectly, I just couldn't imagine taking the risk, to go so far, to not be sure of anything really. But what I could be sure of is the ruthlessness of people in power. And I would do anything to escape that."

"What do you mean by that? Their ruthlessness?"

"Think about it, the Hunger Games, the Avoxes, the reruns of District 13 smoking in the toxic ashes, they all stand as examples of what happens to people who betray the government, specifically people in power. Don't misunderstand, the government you all have set up here is the best we could hope for, sure it might need tweaks down the road, but it will last exactly as it is for the next few decades. But the people in charge of Panem are so terrified of losing their power, of the status quo changing, that they must set terrifying examples of what happens if you try to change the current state of life. The Games and the Avoxes are not so subtle reminders of what happens when you betray the government of Panem."

Another pause, and he angled his head at me, looking at something he hadn't seen before. A glance back down to his notepad. "Tell me about the first games. What was the process like, after you left District 12?"

"We were put in this train, if you could call it that, travelling around Panem, picking up the other tributes. I think what shocked me most was the food lying around. Not just a bowl of fruit, but trays and trays of pastries and other fine foods, just sitting in a car, waiting to be eaten. It shocked me that this food was only for Peeta, Haymitch, Effie and me. That all of these people back home were starving, and I had tables of food in front of me. Naturally, Peeta and I ate as much as we could, but there was always the thought at the back of my mind, of everyone across the districts, working so hard for food, simple sustenance, when all of this excess sat in front of me."

"What about once you reached the Capitol? What happened then?"

"We were groomed. I remember washing myself before, trying to make myself presentable, just as all of us do, in the event we are a tribute. _You want to look best for the sponsors._" I mimicked in my best Capitol accent. "But then I didn't realize how much more washing and poking and prodding would be required. My skin almost felt rubbed raw. Don't misunderstand, the team I had was just doing their job, trying to help me succeed in winning, but that didn't make it any less degrading."

"Degrading how?"

"Even though they were just washing away dirt, I felt like I was being stripped of who I was, as a person. And then I was 'presented' to Cinna, and he made me feel like me again."

"How so?"

"He talked to me like a human being, and not a tribute."

Nate smiled at that, glad to see the light in this story. Continuing on, "And then what?"

"You pretty much saw a lot of it. We were set on fire and paraded in front of the sponsors. Training began soon after and that was the unsettling part."

"What was so unsettling about the training? Being trained to attack one another?"

"No. I mean yes, that was strange, but what was worse was that we were all kids. All of us, having lived adult lives. That even the youngest of us were working in the fields at an early age. And those of us that weren't working had been trained from birth how to kill. That even though we called the kids from Districts 1 and 2 Careers, because they had made a career out of being tributes, we had all been working serious jobs from a very early age. The advantage in working from so early on gave some of us an edge in the games, where I could shoot an arrow, Rue could climb through the trees as if she was running on the ground, and Peeta," pause. "He had his strength, from lifting heavy weights in the bakery, but he could also paint like you wouldn't believe."

"How would that come in handy?"

"He camouflaged himself. Was that not shown in the footage?" Nate shook his head. And I realized sharing this secret might make Panem even more endeared to Peeta. "After the tracker jacker incident, Cato injured Peeta's leg. Peeta made it to the river and hid himself there in the rocks. He painted himself over so well that I wouldn't have known he was there, if he hadn't grabbed my ankle, I would have never found him."

It flashed back, as a happy memory oddly enough. Finding him had been a happy occasion. I didn't even think twice about teaming up with him, even though taking care of him could have easily gotten the both of us killed.

"That actually brings me to my next question, but feel free to skip to the next question. What is the extent of your relationship with Peeta? I mean, you're clearly not pregnant."

I laughed a bit, realizing I did actually have some explaining to do. "No, I am not pregnant. And we aren't engaged either."

"So the relationship between the two of you was all a lie?"

"Yes and no. For him, it was very real, from the very beginning, in his first interview with Caesar. He was completely honest. For me, I started off as a way to save our lives, pretending to be in love. Haymitch could sell that story to the sponsors, to send us supplies, medicine really. Once Peeta was hurt, it seemed to be the only way I could get supplies or medicine. At the very end of the games, when it was just the two of us left, using the nightlock wasn't a way to die together, rather a way for the both of us to live. I knew that we would be stopped before we could actually eat the berries."

"And then after the games?"

"Well, our little stunt started a rebellion. Even if we wanted to end the pretend relationship, and I am not sure I did, and I know Peeta didn't, we couldn't. President Snow threatened death to everyone I love, if I didn't end the rebellion. But how do you stop a wildfire that you didn't intend on starting in the first place? In order to save ourselves from persecution and keep the country from falling apart, we kept the relationship going. Haymitch wanted to continue the act, but it was Peeta who got a little caught up during the interviews and created our fake wedding and pregnancy. Even beyond the façade, we had agreed to at least be friends. But the thing is we found solace in each other. After the first set of games, and well into the second, we found peace by being with each other. We could confide to one another about what was happening, because we had been through it together."

"But what about now?"

"Now, I am sure I love him, and it tears me up that I can't walk out of District 13 and save him."

"Why not?"

"It wouldn't be the smartest thing I had ever done, trying to break into the Capitol to rescue their most prized prisoner."

He smirked, "I suppose not. But what has changed since the games, that has made you love him?"

I tried to think when the switch happened. When I went from not loving him, to loving him. And I realize, it wasn't a light switch that flipped, it wasn't instantaneous. It was like sunrise, gradual. Just a little bit more of him every so often made me accustomed to having him in my life, and then I couldn't imagine my day without that sunlight.

"It isn't what has changed since the games, but what I have come to realize. During my pretending to be a star-crossed lover, I became one, anyways. It just took me some time to separate what my heart felt from what my actions were pretending to covey, to divide my actions for me from my actions for the camera, to see what was real and not real."

"So the two of you are in a relationship now?"

"If he'll still have me, I'm his."

He paused, looked for his questions.

"If you had to volunteer for the games in place of your sister again, would you?"

"In a heartbeat."

He shut off the tape recorder and closed his notepad. "That's all I need for now. Thank you very much, Katniss."

"Anytime." I even meant what I said. We shook hands and he left, promising to have a copy of the article to me by tonight. But just as I had reached the kitchen the doorbell rang again. I assumed it was Nate, having forgotten something, but I was hardly shocked to find Cinna and Star standing on my doorstep.

"Dinner is tonight. You ready?" Cinna asked.

I hesitated for a moment, slightly disoriented from the interview. "Yes, but is this attire acceptable?" I was in my usual practice garb.

Cinna and Star responded at the same time.

"No."

"Yes."

They turned to each other and laughed. Star replied first, "Whatever clothing you're comfortable wearing will be fine. These family dinners are fairly casual." With that, we left.

But I soon found out that just because the dinners were fairly casual, did not mean that the meal was any less overwhelming. It seemed that Star was the mellowest of her siblings. And their children. The kids began crawling all over her the second she stepped in the door. And it didn't seem to end. Cinna and I started to introduce ourselves to Star's many siblings, when one of them, said, "We know who you both are. It's hard not to know after all that has happened."

She introduced herself as Ariel, and went around making introductions, while Star was still busy detaching the kids from herself.

Dinner began, and the hectic feeling of it all didn't seem to lessen. But then again, it seemed hectic having a dinner table of over twenty people, when my dinner table hadn't had more than three people in years. Mr. Sparrow and I struck up a conversation about HQ. It seemed that he was retired, and missed all of the action, so I told him as much as I could. He even offered advice on a few things I had talked about, and that advice seemed invaluable.

We were nearing the end of the meal, and coming upon dessert, when the kids started asking me questions about District 12 and the games.

"What was it like sleeping in a tree every night?"

"Did your back hurt?"

"Did ants crawl on you while you were asleep?"

"Did a bug fly in your nose?"

Luckily, Star saved me, as I started to lose track of the questions. "You all can read about Katniss and the games in this week's copy of _The Liberator_."

"But Aunty Star, I can't read." One of them responded.

"Then you'll have to slow down on the questions if you all actually want her to answer them now." With her ultimatum issued, the kids all seemed to contemplate their questions more carefully, deciding it was better to ask only the really important ones.

But before another question could be answered, there was a loud knocking on the front door, so loud it seemed to reverberate through all of our seats. Star's muscles tightened, as did Cinna's. Mr. and Mrs. Sparrow seemed to slide into a mode of equal alertness, but it was Mr. Sparrow who went to answer the door.

Behind that door was Finnick, who quickly apologized to Mr. Sparrow, but said, "I need to speak to Star. It's urgent." His voice was more strained than I had ever seen it in the games, but his eyes seemed just as crazed as when were trapped for an hour with those mutant jabber jays.

Finnick hurried over to the table, and shoved papers into Star's hands, photos to be exact. Before Star could even see what he had handed her, he said, "She's pregnant."

The table seemed to stay quiet, no one dared take a breath, as Star looked at the photos. She lifted her gaze to her dad, asking, "Dad, do you mind if we borrow your office?"

"Go ahead. You know where it is."

"Can I bring you coffee or dessert?" Mrs. Sparrow asked, as Cinna, Star and I stood up from the table.

"That would be wonderful, Mom. Thank you. And Dad, could you call Night and Haymitch for me?"

"Sure, what about Elizabeth and Jenna?"

Star shook her head. "No, they're still on assignment. Thanks though."

The four of us strode towards a random room in the Sparrow home, following Star who strode with far more purpose than I had ever seen before.

We shuffled into an office space containing a few chairs and a desk. Star sat at the desk without preamble, and suggested, "Make yourselves comfortable. It could be some time before Night, Gale, and Haymitch arrive."

Cinna responded, "But you didn't send for Gale."

"That's because he's having dinner with Night. They'll come together." But Star was busy fumbling around in the desk, until she found a magnifying glass and started inspecting the pictures. It seemed low tech for Star.

We all stayed quite for a few more minutes before she set down the glass, and cursed. She ran her hands through her hair in frustration, and asked rhetorically, "how did we not notice this?"

But Finnick responded with the anger and tension that had been lying inside of him. "How did _I_ not notice this? I was supposed to be monitoring her, I am supposed to know her the best, and _I _didn't see it until now." He ran his hands through his hair, just as Star did. He was the only one who hadn't taken a seat, and now began pacing.

Cinna appeared as confused as I felt. I threw out the question, "Who's pregnant?"

"Annie." Finnick responded, saying the words making them all the more final.

Annie. His Annie. The Annie whose screams we heard in the games, whose screams he heard in the games.


End file.
